Mass Effect: Going Dark
by TheSev
Summary: (UPDATE: PROLOGUE ADDED) Original Mass Effect story with original characters. See profile for full 'back of the book' synopsis. Kevin Folner, human, heads into deep space to investigate a long thought 'dead' mass relay apparently reactivated by the geth.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

"Chief Daerus, daily reports are ready for you now, sir," a female turian formally announced from a recently opened doorway.

Daerus Terril nodded in habit, failing to let his beady eyes part from the blue terminal on the desk in front of him to look at her. "Anything of note this time, Lieutenant Venicar?" he asked with a tone hinging on boredom.

"None today, sir." Her shoulders sunk as if she was disappointed for letting her commanding officer down. They quickly sprung back, unable to disrupt the stiff, professional stance required in his presence for long.

Daerus sighed and waved a hand absentmindedly. The gleaming and polished turian armor of black and gold squeaked with the motion. "Dismissed."

The female turian saluted Daerus, turned sharp, and left with brisk haste. It was only when the door closed in absence of her presence that Daerus shut down the haptic adaptive screen of his terminal. Afterwards he sat back in his chair so he could lay his forearms across the equally polished armor of his thighs.

_Why has it been so quiet?_ he asked himself warily. He could feel frustration mounting in the back of his mind, a frustration born of lack of action. It was as though his whole day was ruined by the fact that there was no notable circumstance extreme enough to warrant his attention. _Since when was this galaxy ever so still?_

He stood from his bothersome chair. It had been getting increasingly uncomfortable since he had seen the first report on a frigate bearing the name "Normandy SR-2" alongside Cerberus emblems and colors. Given the fact that the SR-1 had disappeared without a word and the only other Normandy-class scout frigates were all accounted for in their respective militaries, the SR-2's existence was alarmingly sideways. After some incomplete details that hinted at the Omega-4 relay as its destination crossed his desk, it seemed to have dropped off the radar – nothing had been reported since.

Daerus shook his head and placed a pair of fingers on the thick plates of his red-marked forehead. He needed a walk.

The glowing sign above the outside of his office door caused a faint cyan hue to saturate the clean-cut hallway just beyond. It read "Chief of Intelligence", which placed him only as third in command over the Hierarchy's Military Intelligence Division, just under the Primarch and third to the Hierarchy itself. An esteemed rank, to be sure, but a rank that shouldered one of the heaviest military burdens; keeping the Hierarchy informed of anything and everything, and to filter out the details that warranted their attention so they could be passed up the chain as needed. He didn't have to walk very far before coming across one of the largest main terminal banks on the ship. The hallway opened up into a large, dim room, swathed in deep ambient blue from arrays of haptic terminal screens.

Turians of all face-colors in military uniforms sat and worked calmly with trained efficiency in blocks of clustered terminals on long tables. The open room was approximately one deck below the walkway Daerus was currently moving across, but not separated by anything more than a railing at the edge. From here he could overlook this particular group of militant information miners and eye the operations they were working on, despite the fact that the terminals were too distant to be intelligible to his eye. To do that, he had to link the terminal of interest to his own, which sat centered on the railing half-way down the walkway.

Daerus moved to it and started to look through some of the ongoing monitoring operations in hopes of catching new, raw data as it streamed across any one of his team's terminals. This was not an uncommon occurrence for him and it happened often enough to warrant a try. He cycled through a few blocks with little success, shaking his head as he moved on to each one.

Then a voice caught his ear.

"Sir!" a male turian called out. "Incoming data stream. You'll want to see this!"

Daerus recognized the voice immediately. It was Varien Sirexus. He was in charge of monitoring deep-space project communications and specialized broadcasts.

The Chief of Intelligence linked his terminal up to Varien's and studied the information collecting on his screen. He brought a hand to his chin as he worked the data through his head. He remembered the project this was supposed to be from, but it had been over a year since he'd gone over anything related to it. "Hmph. This is very late data. Sirexus, bring me up to speed on this project."

The turian cleared his throat. "The data is part of Operation Clean Sweep, a joint turian, salarian, and human military project aimed to search the far reaches of the known galaxy for potentially threatening clusters of geth and other such geth activity. This operation was executed by all three races two years ago just after the Battle of the Citadel by sending several collections of long distance scout probes into those remote regions from known locations. This is the last probe to report in. It was labeled as 'lost' due to being unaccounted for in such an extended period of time."

There was too much data in front of Daerus to infer conclusions, so he had to ask. He almost dreaded Varien's wordy response. "Any notion as to why this probe took so long to report back?"

"This was one of the probes sent out to a very remote region of space beyond the relay in the Dholen system, sir. If this data and the history of this project is anything to go by, it had to pass through a lot of empty space before it found anything. There are no listed errors that might have otherwise accounted for the silence."

The length of time in its silence wasn't the only thing that differed about this report. Somewhere well beyond the relay in the Far Rim system, an unmapped relay lay active. While this was highly unusual, it was barely a footnote compared to what information came paired with it. The magnitude of the problem in front of him caused him to swallow dryly. Feeling the need for everyone in his team to see this, Daerus sent the visuals from the probe's stealthed fly-by to the main screen that took up the majority of the far wall in the room. Silence fell over the terminal blocks as everyone looked up and subsequently failed to concentrate on their tasks. The sight on that screen was daunting, to say the least.

The image showed a massive fleet of geth ships, known and unknown, assembled around the unmapped and active relay.

"Spirits…" Daerus mumbled under his breath as he stared at the large screen and his hands involuntarily clenched. His tone was dire. "That's not going to go over well with the Hierarchy. That's quite the fleet we've missed."

He took extensive note of the baffling way the ships were arranged; a giant metallic ring, shining and reflecting the blue-white glow of the mass relay at the center. They were stationary like that, if the subsequent telemetry scans were to be believed, and they generally were. It was almost as if the geth were waiting for something. _Waiting for the return of a collection of scout ships to return, perhaps?_ he thought. _Maybe they were attempting to send data through to see if they got a response. Perhaps they encountered a hostile race on the far side and were covering all angles of the expected FTL drop zone. _

Daerus was a man of facts, of details, of the known. It wasn't like him to spend so much thought on speculation so wild and unknowable. But this… This was an unusual sight to match his self-reflected unusual behavior. He could feel his stomach tighten in the most nauseating of ways as other thoughts rose unbidden.

_Or… maybe they were waiting for something far, far more terrible._

Daerus heard murmurs and hushed chatter below him and his brow-plates pressed together as he listened in. It seemed the sight on the screen had made the ranks uneasy. This wasn't a known relay formation for any scenario. The purpose of the significant radius the geth seemed to maintain was difficult to interpret as well.

Daerus stood upright to address his team. "Unusual, yes, but we're the ones that see the unusual first. Keep your heads on and proceed as normal."

Data continued to stream in, but it wasn't directly from the probe. Rather, it was relayed from the archives on the Citadel where the storage was set aside for the operation as soon as it arrived. This allowed the data to be passed out on channels updated with the latest security encryptions that the probes tended to lack. That particular block, where military scouting operations were either stored or streamed from, was manned by council-picked salarian military under orders to do nothing but make sure the block is secure. They were left with explicit orders not to touch anything, even to monitor the data stream – or so Daerus had been told. He had serious doubts as to how well those few would keep to that order, especially if news that a previously unmapped and now active mass relay was discovered.

Increasingly curious, the Chief of Intelligence continued to pour over the numbers and visuals provided by their ever-helpful probe, but as he reviewed, the helmsman called over the local deck sound emitters.

"Chief Terril?"

Daerus lifted his eyes from his terminal to stare at the large screen again. "This is Chief Terril. Go ahead."

"Sir, the other captains in the flotilla are getting anxious over sitting here monitoring data when we've been summoned to the Citadel. What shall I tell them?"

Their cruiser, the communications behemoth named the _Insight_, was heading there for some political purpose Daerus did not care for, and the skittish behavior of the captains that always surfaced whenever the Citadel or council was involved irked him terribly. This time, however, the timing proved to be convenient. He'd soon be able to look at the raw data for himself and discuss this classified information with a few admirals.

Daerus sighed, loud and long. "The Citadel makes a house call and everyone within five lightyears of the ship pisses their armor. Tell them we—"

Daerus was interrupted by an alarm on his terminal and a flashing red section of his screen pulled his attention away from the unnerving ring of geth ships on the wall.

"Security breach!" shouted Kalin Thortus, who was the chief of security monitoring. "Backdoor to the Citadel archives military scouting data cluster has been opened!"

"What…?" Daerus wondered aloud with a calm tilt of the head. Citadel network and data security was bleeding edge and generally hosted on a network not accessible from external nodes. How in the galaxy did someone manage to open a back door at all? Worst of all, he knew this information was several minutes old at best—even military priority on the comm buoy tightbeams took time to cross the galaxy.

"Isolate and extrapolate," Daerus ordered, swift and absolute. "How wide is the breach? And get me the manner of entry. No self-entitled code pyjack on the extranet could just _tunnel_ into the archives." He spat those words, as though such a breach was an insult to his profession.

"Isolating…" Thortus declared. "Looks local to that data block, sir. Only the details to this particular operation have been compromised. A highly precise breach."

"And entry?"

"This is… also local, sir. Reports show that the ports were deliberately opened on the host machine's own command lines."

Daerus shook his head, a low growl held back in his throat. "_This_ is why we don't leave personnel with minimum clearance to secure the storage." He sighed angrily, letting his emotions show for just a moment. "Shut down the block and have those posted apprehended. Find me the Dalatrass that insisted on this 'security measure' and have her routed to my terminal in five. And for the love of the Spirits, alert the council that there are rogue salarians trouncing about their beloved archives." Delegation. Quick, precise, efficient.

Several quick acknowledgements sounded off from the individuals tasked with those orders and one or two turians moved out of the room with purpose in their swift steps while others focused hard on their terminals. Daerus looked back to his data and linked up the proper terminal to get some information on the breach itself. It was a crude but effective console exploit that allowed opening of unused network resources and ports. _Curious,_ Daerus mused. _It must have been an oversight due to how few are even permitted into the archives. The next security summit will be hearing about this for certain._

Once he could confirm that the breach had been contained, he let the heightened tension in his shoulders slip away. It took around fourteen minutes for the order to reach the Citadel, or so he calculated. It took nearly another thirty for the containment confirmation to return to his terminal. The staunch chief then realized his relaxation was premature, judging by the quick and dirty report that was filed with the confirmation.

Beady eyes flicked over the grammatically lax bits of information, and he cursed under his breath. It seemed that a few _very_ timely connections had been made to the data cluster when the salarians opened it up and had started mining data before the hardline was cut. Only two had gotten anything of note, however. One was a late connection that managed to get enough data to detail out the coordinates of the relay and a small collection of minor details. The other one, however, must have been a coordinated attempt as the connection was made mere minutes after the breach was complete. _That_ one had nearly all the information that had been relayed from the Citadel to the _Insight_.

That wasn't even the worst of it. Thanks to some curiously specific meddling done by those same salarians, crucial pieces of information needed to trace those remote connections had been fragmented to the point of uselessness. The best they would be able to piece together is what _star system_ the connection came from. Not exactly the kind of pinpoint accuracy they needed to stage a cease and desist raid.

"Terril to the bridge," he called across the comms as he leaned firm against the railing behind his terminal, his arms spread wide around the screen. His grip was tight and his armor squelched as his fingers wrapped around it. "Take us into FTL. We need to hit the Citadel yesterday."

"What about your call to the Dalatrass, sir?" one of the turians below reminded him.

"The Dalatrass can wait," he shot back, firm and unyielding. _I'd much rather rake the coals under her feet in front of the council for this blunder, _he silently added. "Soon as we arrive, send for my office on the Presidium to be prepped."

Acknowledgement rang out and Daerus stood upright, rigid. In truth, he wasn't looking forward to the silly antics and political fallout this could potentially create, but he was nothing if not a difficult turian when it came to security, cyber or not. Such absurd oversight, or worse, intentional placement, spat in the face of everything he worked for in this position. Undermining his work ruffled his metaphorical feathers more than almost anything.

The chief shut down his railing-side terminal for now and started back towards his office. His mind was blanketed with thoughts of that relay and the geth in their extremely unorthodox formation. The more he thought about it, the more his stomach wrought. He had to sit down. _Just how am I going to get them to pay attention to this when an archives breach just occurred?_ He didn't think that would even ping on his peers' radar after something like that.

Back in his office, he sat down in his chair heavily and pulled himself to the proper sitting position at his desk. His terminal blinked to life automatically and he called upon the data from the probe once more. He stared at the image with furrowed browplates, his brain churning and formulating as he tried to come up with some logical conclusion, but the only ones that made even remote sense were the ones he had thought up earlier.

It was then that he gave the general location of the relay some thought._ They're days away from linking up to nearby comm buoy,_ he thought with a fist passively brought to his mouth. _How long have they been there? Are they even active? _As far as he could tell from the sequence of images taken by the fly-by, none of them even moved. They seemed suspended in place. Even that did not quell the uneasiness that caused his flesh to tingle under his hard carapace, however. There was something incredibly off about this, but he dared not send any host to investigate.

"Sir," a female voice called to him, the familiar flange of her voice distorted by the intra-vessel comms.

"Not now, Venicar." He waved his hand in dismissal as if she were there with him.

"You ordered us to notify you of this immediately, sir." She didn't even sound sorry, that blasted woman.

Daerus sighed. And sat back in his chair, jaw clenched for but a moment. "Very well, what is it?"

"There was some information in the last burst of data before we jumped to FTL, sir. That human you asked us to track… the one with shady connections?"

"What of him? Has he been found?" he asked curtly. This man had held Daerus's interest for near a year now. His connections were undeniably powerful, but were barely shadows in his wake. He seemed to leave webs of malicious intent everywhere he went, but only one who managed to track him as long as Daerus had could even begin to see them, well played as they were.

"Indeed. One of our agents on the Citadel spotted him leaving the embassies. He has plans to 'take a vacation' on Omega."

Daerus leaned forward and laced his six fingers together in interest as he put weight onto the arms resting just shy of the holographic interface on the desk. "Do we have an available agent there?"

Having this man drop by Omega was fortunate. He could order in a cabal squad once he had some solid evidence on the dealing he was about to partake in. No deals this man made were for the benefit of all within Citadel space, and he had no shortage of confidence that getting this information from him while he was busy working his magic during his stay on the rock would be just a matter of time.

"We do. He is currently unassigned."

"Have him make preparations for Werner's arrival. I want the docking guard wherever he makes berth thinned out so we have an opening for apprehension."

As long as no one who cared was aware, he wouldn't have to risk any galactic political blowback. Not until he had his leads, at least. The plan hinged on that moment, however, and he couldn't make any moves unless he had that moment of obscurity. His connections could cut him off completely if they found he was compromised, and a wise man knew that eyes were always watching on that station. He knew _that_ all too well.

"There's one more thing, sir."

"What now?"

"He's being followed."

Daerus parted his hands and set them on the desk as he frowned, his mandibles clenching to his cheeks and sliding downward while he gripped the edge of the table tightly.

"_Damnit!"_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Mass Effect**_

_**Going Dark**_

_Original story by:_

_Severyx (AKA TheSev)_

Based on the Science Fiction universe of BioWare's 'Mass Effect' game series.

_**Chapter One**_

The large, open-spaced platform hanging between two massive structures pounded with the muffled bassline and kicks of some dancable and wordless song originating from within one of the two structures. The bright holographic screens advertised the structure as Afterlife, and sported an even bigger holographic screen of one or more sultry asari in skimpy outfits, dancing. Often with each other, in ever more seductive forms. On either side of the walk way leading up to the entrance was a drop-off which broke out to one of the few areas on the space station where you could look out over a large section of the space station's many dangling and oddly jutting structures. An atmospheric maintenance field kept everyone breathing fine, and acted like a flat wall in terms of sound reverberation. Each voice loud enough to be heard over the hushed music echoed several times before dying off.

A human about six foot with hazel eyes, one and a half inch long brown hair and raggedy clothing over-top an old, out of date casual Systems Alliance uniform stepped up to the unimaginably long line waiting to get into Afterlife – the massive club and 'place to be' on the hub of the Terminus Systems, Omega. The stench of poor hygienic standards, intoxicating drinks and a wide variety of drugs permeated the air in a thick, but constantly swirling and invisible fog. And Kevin Folner, the human who looked like he belonged here, walked right into it. To those unfamiliar with the space station conveniently built into the shell of an asteroid, Omega's heavy atmosphere would feel like a thin coating of dust the moment they stepped on. Kevin was only somewhat acclimated to this raunchy environment.

He found it rather sad when the area outside the top club on the station made you gag, but this was Omega. He had always hated this place but he kept on coming back, though not usually of his own volition. He often had jobs to carry out that in one way or another led him back to this wretched den of piss poor miscreants, alien thugs and gangs. Kevin got by on these jobs, often involving killing some unfortunate soul who pissed off wealthy enough to hire a hitman. While he had his reservations about Omega as a whole, he could always count on wetwork requests from _someone _here. Over time, Kevin appointed himself the title of 'assassin' due to the fact that the majority of his jobs were hits, though everyone else simply called him a merc. Whatever they called him, the fact remained that each hit he collected on simply furthered a reputation of an efficient killing machine, well versed at stealth as well as 'personal' information mining.

With an impatient sigh, Kevin sidestepped around the tail of the line and walked right on by the rather patient patrons-to-be, heading up to the stairs where the entrance to Afterlife glowed and pulsed. Each person he walked by – alien and human alike – gave him a stare, as if he were skipping the line simply to piss them off. There were several armed guards by the door, keeping watch over the constantly elongated waiting line and making sure there were no overly-rowdy troublemakers. Apparently there was a heavily enforced occupancy cap. Nodding to a turian at the bottom right of the stairs, he continued on while only receiving a quick nod from the turian in response. At the top-right of the stairs loomed a krogan bearing a powerful shotgun in his huge hands. For this guard, Kevin stopped a moment.

"Hey Targold. How's things?"

The krogan's disposition shifted from menacing and pissed to only slightly less pissed.

"Folner," the eight foot alien addressed in a low, rumbling tone. "Back for more of this stinkhole?"

"Yes and no. I'm on a job," Kevin stated, falling into the pulsing shadow of his first real conversation partner of the night.

"Another job, huh? At least you're keeping in the workforce. Hey, since you're here, maybe we should hit the third level bar later. Your treat."

"A tempting offer," Kevin refused with a slight laugh, shaking his head, "but I'm not sure how this job will play out. Might need to leave pretty quick if things go south."

"Ah. Oh well. Guess it's another boring night for me, then. I'm just hoping some idiot will mess up tonight so I'll actually get to do something."

As if summoned by those very words, a batarian stepped out of the waiting line and started shouting at Kevin and Targold, interrupting their all too friendly conversation.

"This is an outrage! That human killed my brothers, and he gets direct access?" The sentence ended with a pointed finger at Kevin while the conversing two paused to look in the four-eyed accuser's direction at the same time

"Hold that thought," Targold mused. "Looks like tonight may not be so boring after all."

The krogan turned towards the batarian, who was trying to incite a bit of anger amongst the crowd.

"Your brothers pissed Aria off," the krogan pointed out, his rumbling voice carrying across the entire open area and echoing back. "The meatbags deserved it and it's their own fault they got killed. You want to be the next one to go? I have no reservations or restrictions about putting down a firestarter like you."

But the batarian hadn't had enough yet.

"So what then? We just wallow in our impatience while this blatant murderer walks by us all and is granted immediate access? Absurd!"

At that point, Targold stepped down the stairs from his high place, leaving a visibly amused Kevin behind. The krogan, fully armored and brandishing his shotgun, stepped right up to the whining batarian.

"You want to walk right in?" The krogan asked, his volume not diminishing despite the distance between them having been reduced to mere inches. "Then you have two options. Try to walk in and I shoot you, or do good work for Aria."

The batarian blinked his upper set of eyes, and began to shrink in place at being put into the dangerous shadow of the beast. Even still, he continued. A typical stubborn batarian.

"Th-then I'll just go work for Aria! What then?"

The krogan was unphased. "You want to go work for Aria? Be my guest. Just a side note, though: That human has made some big enemies working for her, and not just upstart little pricks like you. Most of the top gangs want him rotting in the streets." At this point, Targold's words began to slow down for emphasis. "You think you can handle that, tough guy?"

The krogan was now literally face to face with the batarian, who seemed to finally admit defeat. He didn't even bother to slink back into line, but instead opted to leave entirely. The krogan watched him leave only for a few seconds before he returned to his post on the stairs. Before Kevin could even say anything, Targold drew in a deep breath.

"I love a good intimidation. Kind of wish he had just tried to shoot me, though."

Kevin laughed and shook his head. "You make it sound like I'm Aria's star employee of the month."

"You should be thankful," Targold said, smirking. "I just added flavor to your reputation."

"Just what I needed. Krogans. I'll talk to you later, Targold. Duty calls." With that, Kevin made his way towards the large doors leading into the club.

"Have fun," the krogan drolly called out. "And try not to get shot up too bad. I still have to hear more of your battle stories."

The guards and doorkeepers at Afterlife knew Kevin well enough to let him through without opposition. He'd done a small number of jobs for Omega's crimelord, Aria T'Loak, and gained a finite, but measurable amount of favor with her. Enough to get through the doors without waiting in lines for hours on end, but not enough for him to be considered one of her cronies. A blessing and a curse. It kept his visits to the rocky station quiet and most of the time, smooth. Smooth as far as Omega visits go, anyhow. The downside was that he had to watch his back more so than usual. Aria's silent opposition always sought to undermine her efforts whenever she wasn't looking, and to them, Kevin was just another one of her assets that she wouldn't lose sleep over if he suddenly and violently disappeared.

For all the things Kevin dislikes about Omega, there was one thing about it he thoroughly enjoyed: the club. He was no stranger to that type of scene, and at twenty-six years of age, he was just the right age to fit right in with the younger end of the patrons. The music they always played happened to be one of his favorite genres, and he always got a small boost of adrenaline when he first steps inside and sees the flashing colors and shifting lights, and feels the constant throbbing beat of the overly loud music. He also loved dancing in the crowd, and though he was no professional dancer or any sort, he knew how to dance quite well enough so that he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. Afterlife simply had the biggest club he knew about anywhere, it traversing 4 whole levels. It felt raw and less subjected to the 'higher society' that tended to promote inhibitions.

Unfortunately for Kevin, he was not here to party. He had a job to do and he was always good at staying focused on whatever mission he was on. Even so, some things are so distracting that it is hard to pass by without stopping a moment. For most people, it was the sultry asari dancers on the platform hanging above the rest of the room – their scantily clad outfits accentuating the voluptuous curves that ever asari seems to possess. In Kevin's case, it was his regular dance partner.

"Heya Kev, wanna dance?" she invited, yelling as loud as she could so that Kevin might hear her above the music. "I'm really feeling it today~."

He heard the asari before he could see her, but inevitably she morphed into view from the edge of the gyrating mass of the dance floor and hovered over towards Kevin. He and the asari had known each other since his first visit to Afterlife. Dancing with her is what got Kevin addicted to the club scene. He always felt a sense of ecstasy whenever their bodies pressed together moving to the beat of the music. Despite this Afterlife was also where their relationship ended. They never once left the club together.

"Oh, hey Maera," Kevin responded with a smile. "Do you ever leave this place? Lordy."

"Only when I tire myself out! So... Are you going to dance or what?" She batted her eyes at Kevin, and though he couldn't deny her attractive looks, personality or his want to dance to the beat, his focus on the mission could not be undone.

"Sorry, I'm on a job tonight, so I can't," he reluctantly refused.

"Aww, but this is my favorite song! Come on, dance with me!" She flirtatiously leaned forward and found Kevin's left hand with both of her own. Kevin didn't know a bigger flirt than Maera.

"Every song's your favorite song, Maera," he calmly stated, placing a hand on hers and then removing both from her grasp. "I promise I'll come back later and we'll tear this place up, alright?"

"Ugh," she grunted as she backed up, "Fine, but you owe me one heck of a dance session," she demanded. As she turned to walk back into the crowd, she murmured something she probably didn't expect Kevin to hear. "By the goddess, you're always busy these days..."

_Now where was I_, he thought with a sigh. Ah yes, back to business. There was a gentleman he needed to meet, and he shouldn't be hard to find. He had a hunch that this man stuck out like a really sore thumb in a dump like this. Maybe because he flaunted his wealth by bringing three bodyguards anywhere he went. Maybe because he dressed like a stuck-up white collar businessman, an obvious contrast to the people who frequented here. Maybe because he slicked his hair back. Maybe because he just simply came across like a bumbling idiot trying to get around a nightclub scene. Kevin didn't care, they all fit this man's profile.

He moved away from the overused and sweat-laden dance areas to find just the man he was looking for, sitting at a table to the right of the solitary bar. From the look of things, he and his goons – two turians and another human, all armed - were enjoying a drink, and admiring the sultry asari dancers within the crowds. These ones just didn't have metal poles as dance partners. Kevin drew in a deep breath in preparation for his next move – a breath he instantaneously regretted. To much swirling stagnant air. As fortune would have it, though, there was an empty chair at his table.

He grabbed a drink from the bar nearby and made his way to their table. Without even questioning, looking at, or even acknowledging any of them, he took the empty seat and got comfortable by sitting back and taking a sip while bringing his left ankle to rest perpendicularly on his right knee. The bodyguards sat upright immediately, trying to look insulted that one of the lesser vermin of Omega even dared to sit with _his excellency_. The white collar's hand went up casually, letting the goons know he wasn't bothered. Kevin looked over to him and nodded out of 'thanks'.

"You must be new around Omega. Bringing a posse in a place like this will only get the local gangs' attention. Among others, that is." As casual as casual gets, he figured. It seemed the most fitting way to start a generic conversation in this place.

The formal and obviously displaced man turned his head to Kevin and a brow rose. "Duly noted, sir. However, I must keep them around, for my safety. This place is just crawling with thieves and low-lifers, and I like to keep my pockets full."

Something about wealthy people acting like wealthy people just irked Kevin before he really even had the chance to judge them by anything credible. "So I see. Ever think that bringing such fat wads of cash might bring some... Unwanted attention?"

"Perhaps. But in such an occasion, I try one of these little maneuvers." The high-class man simply stood up, held out one arm to point at the bartender and shouted, "Drinks for all! On my tab! That's right, drinks are on me tonight!" For such a seemingly stuck up man, he could certainly yell pretty loud.

Suddenly, heads turned and smiles creaked up. The general crowd seemed rather pleased at this, as it was usually quite some time before someone even has half the credits needed to supply drinks to all these thirsty morons comes along. Many thanked the man from afar, some simply nodded and moved to get their free drink.

"And this is where my worries end. No one would be stupid enough to do something to interrupt the flow of free putrid beverages around here."

"Clever," Kevin said with a slight nod. "Alright, so you can handle yourself. What's your name, rich-man?" He sat back and took a sip of what was supposed to be something resembling water. _Let's see_, he thought, _I put my money on... Linus Werner._

"My name is Simon Kellius, my good man." His stiff body leaned forward to offer a polite and business-like handshake. Kevin could hear the crinkles in his no doubt over-ironed shirt and blazer. He stared at the hand for a moment before he received. The man had to be lying about his identity. No one would stride into Omega the way he did using their real name.

"Jack Thort." A blatant lie for a blatant lie, but who would know? "So what brings you rich-types to a slum like this? As you can imagine, people who flaunt money around here tend to run into trouble. Or die. You know, just to warn you and all," he casually spat out, leaning forward from his comfortable position.

"I was well aware of the risks before coming here, but your concerns are certainly appreciated. That is where these guys come in." 'Simon' motioned his free hand towards his bodyguards. "This man," he continued, pointing at the human goon, "is Bojack. The two turians there are Neejack and Tarjack." All three goons gave a disinterested wave simultaneously.

Kevin let out a hearty chuckle. "Are you kidding me? I take it those aren't your real names. Ah, not like I'm an exception to this, ironically."

'Tarjack', the turian with white lines bordering his carapace-like faceplates, defended the tasteless name scheme. "We get paid enough credits that we don't really care what our callsigns are."

"Hah, alright, alright," Kevin said as he backed off and raised both hands to head level while tilting his head to show that he meant no offense.

"Truth is," Simon continued, "I'm on vacation from my work-place and decided that I needed to find a location that promoted loosening up. Work has me on high strings every day, I was beginning to lose my mind. I heard Omega has a crazy nightlife – one where the night never ends. I wanted to 'check the scene' and see if I could 'shake it down' or somesuch."

Kevin placed a pressed thumb and index finger on the bridge of his nose, clearly indicating the obnoxiousness spewing from the rich-man's mouth. He more than likely picked up on it. "Why not try some of the clubs on the citadel? Omega seems like an strange place for such a simple endeavor."

"The citadel has too many of my business contacts and customers. I can't even walk around the presidium without running into them. I needed an extra lively place with no potential for business run-ins. I heard about Omega through a friend and decided to give it a try."

"Seems believable enough," Kevin shrugged, accepting the story as genuine for now. "Look, the only way to loosen up here is to have a few too many drinks, dance until you pass out, then wake up in your apartment wondering what happened. Maybe next to an asari or two, if you get my meaning."

The rich man nodded thoughtfully and carefully. He looked about at the sloshed crowds, a few making complete fools of themselves and others just having a good time. A new pounding song began pulsating over the many audio emitters throughout the club, which Kevin began to bob his head to. The lights shifted to a slightly darker hue of red before beginning to flash and pulsate all over again in tune with the song. A mildly wrinkled smile grew on his face and he nodded, followed shortly by an anticipated loosening of the tie.

"I agree, and I could definitely use a stronger drink. I take it you know your way around here pretty well, perhaps you could enlighten me to the... Allure of Omega's atmosphere. And don't worry. My guards aren't allowed more than one drink a piece, so we can count on them to keep us out of too much trouble." Simon was clearly excited about this idea, which downright surprised Kevin. He thought he'd have to try a _lot_ harder than this.

Despite the shock, however, Kevin picked up on a perfect opportunity. "Eh, sure why not. After all, you did buy me free drinks for the night. Come, I'll show you the _real_ drinks. Non-toxic to humans, but quite a burn. Good stuff." He stood from his seat and nodded his head in the direction of the now crowded bar and an obviously overwhelmed bartender. _This will be... Interesting_, he mused to himself.

"Excellent. By the by, know any drinking games? It's been a long time since I've done this sort of thing," Mr. Kellius exclaimed as he likewise stood and used both hands to press down any otherwise insignificant wrinkle that might potentially be found on his outfit from sitting down.

"A few actually. Had some good times with new drinking buddies with these ones" Kevin nodded towards Simon's goons so that they would be aware that their boss would be drowning his stress. He at least needed to look like he was on their side.

From then on, it was hours of drinking games, talking about random nothings, and the stiff man drinking a lot while Kevin was giving them the illusion he was as well. According to Simon's subsequent stories, he wasn't just wealthy, he was also popular. Popular with all the ladies. He was dashing in a fight, laying out a story in unceasingly broken and self-interrupted English about how one time he faced off against three krogan with nothing but testosterone and a metal pipe before he walked away with their asari handmaidens. Kevin personally knew a few krogan that would be anxious to meet this man.

Simon then made mention about he was a brief alcoholic in his younger years and how he could out-drink even the most stout man in the bar. At that moment, seemingly out of old habit, the man pulled a credit chit from his coat and handed it to the bartender to 'pay for his drinks'. When the bartender handed it back with the comment than he'd charge him when he left, Kevin caught a glimpse of the name on the chit before it was pocketed, and his hunch was right. The name on the chit read "Linus J. Werner." If there was one thing Kevin loved about intoxicating drinks, alien origin or not, it was how it always made information mining as difficult a task as simply taking another drink.

Continuing on with his outlandish stories, Linus also claimed he could slip away undetected from any situation, and buy off whoever opposed him. Well, at least that last part sounded pseudo-non-fiction. Occasionally he would stutter on about this "classified" place he worked for, probably breaking at least a few non-disclosure agreements. None of it was complete enough to have any worth to Kevin, though, and most of it was nearly babble by the end of the conversation anyway. Eventually the amusing stories did have and end to them, saving the last strands of Kevin's patience. Linus offered to show Kevin a 'glorious' apartment he had purchased here on Omega. Funny, no one who lived on this shell of a rock could recall _any_ apartment on Omega being glorious. Ever. Not even for the flunkies that _did_ have cash. Well furnished, maybe. Glorious? Heck no.

Nevertheless, they began making their way down through the less crowded but also less savory alleys towards the apartments. The goons seemed more alert now, if relieved to be out of the chaotic Afterlife. Bojack, Linus' obvious favorite, even had to steady the rich man, focusing less on his surroundings and more on keeping Linus from hitting the ground due to a bit too much to drink. If anything, the very sight of intoxicated individuals amused Kevin. He might have even cracked a smile out of said amusement watching this wealthy white collar fumble over himself in such ridiculous manners. But alas, it had to come to an end sooner or later.

"Let me put Mr. Smashed here to bed so he can lie down before he breaks his nose on a wall." Kevin moved forward and hooked Linus' left arm over his shoulders. "You guys do...Uh... Whatever you guys normally do out here. I won't stay long, he's pretty wiped."

Those long, annoying hours paid off. He was seen as friendly enough that only one guard followed them in. The oxymoron of a stiff began laughing as if something was actually funny and he wouldn't stop. It was almost maddening. Kevin and Bojack simply looked at each other and shook their heads at the refined boss' display of lack of self-control.

The apartment itself looked more or less like any other Omega bargain living quarters. However, one thing that arose as curious to Kevin was the fact that it was on a main road in Aria's turf. The money to buy it obviously wasn't the issue, but how did he get along with Aria well enough to purchase this apartment? He forced this currently unimportant distraction from his mind as Linus continued his babbling about how this whole place was going to be refurnished and sparkling clean, complete with turret defenses, fat stacks of cash and a whole lot of women. Typical drunk rich business man's dream. Kevin needed to get away from this place. He already felt like he needed a sterilizing shower of industrial proportions. Fortunately, there was one comforting thought floating in Kevin's mission centered mind: It was almost time for him to leave. He carefully put the rich man down on the bed who laughed a bit more before _finally _calming down.

"Whew! That was...Um... That.. That was too much fun... You were right, Jackie. Yesh. Best way to loos-loosen up is with booze." His speech was obliterated – much like his high class, business-approved stance. Jackie? Really? This whole scene was more than cliché in Kevin's mind.

Sir sloshed wasn't interested in doing much other than staring at the ceiling right now, so Kevin saw this as his chance to quietly take out the overexposed human bodyguard that was stupid enough to follow them in. Kevin called him over with a quick set of curled fingers for what might have been perceived as him asking for help getting the drunk man somewhere other than laying awkwardly on the bed. He let the goon walk as if to pass him, but he didn't get far. As soon as the opportunity was greatest – right as the guard passed him – he pulled a dagger out from inside his pants at his right waist and quickly moved behind the guard. Unaware, Bojack continued passed and let his gun dangle around his torso, dusting off the hardsuit gloves before handling his boss.

Bingo.

Kevin had to be swift. Slipping right behind the man, he hooked his left arm around to cover the guards mouth while the right hand, grasping an ornate dagger made of a strange black metal, was brought around to cleave a deep and clean slice into his soft, fleshy neck. The goon's eyes rolled back while Kevin gently let him fall backwards until he rested on the floor, silent and in an ever-growing pool of blood. All this within a matter of eight to ten seconds between calling him over to laying him on the floor. Linus, however, was still talking to himself on the bed, which was probably the reason the guards outside were at ease about the situation.

"And... And when he saw me, he-he was all 'hey...hey I shot that guy before you,' but... Um. Uh. Yeah, and that's... That's what happened to my old fr-friend. Where are we again?"

"I think you need to rest now, Simon," Kevin stated, quickly wiping his blade on a cloth as he casually approached the bed. "You've had a long day."

"Bah! There's no reason-"

The rich man was stopped silent mid sentence by the same dagger as the one that slashed that of his loyal guard. It pierced his throat from the front at an upward angle, impaling through the girth of his neck and penetrating deep into his lower cortex. Unbelievably surprised and pained eyes widened in automatic reaction as he attempted in vain to gasp for air with only one breath before the almost instant death overcame him. Crimson blood began to trickle ever so steadily from the edges of the lethal puncture and down onto the somewhat clean bedding. Merely a second later, the blade was removed from his throat and left tightly gripped in Kevin's right hand, dripping his life essence with some of the loudest drips a man would ever hear. Not long after that Linus' eyes, slightly bloodshot, rolled back completely and stopped twitching. Red fluid continued to pour down, now accumulating in small puddles on the blankets. The deed was done.

Kevin wiped his blade clean on the late Mr. Werner's oddly still wrinkle-free garments and placed it back into its well hidden holster under the underside of his belt, rather than hanging over it under a shirt. He used his right hand to shut the dead man's eyes with a emotionless calm that has in the past caused people to think him unreal. He didn't know where or why he picked up such an odd habit. Perhaps a bit of respect for the recently deceased? It didn't matter right now – it was time to finish the job.

But there was one major problem. He was in dire need of a ship, as Omega was always rather difficult to leave once you had arrived, especially if you didn't have the ship you arrived on. That noted, he was about to do one of the very things that caused the wretched den to be this way. He searched the man who was now quite literally a stiff, shuffling his clothes left and right and checking pockets. Anything he had on him – money, ID, registration for a ship – Kevin took. He had to be nameless when they found him, and since only his guards would be left, it would be assumed they did it to get at his funds or, even better and more often the case on Omega, it might simply be that everyone would fail to find a reason to care. It was time to continue on and collect his payment. But first, he couldn't forget the proof of the kill. He took a holo of the man, and then smeared the display base in his blood before placing it in a small sealed box. No chance he was getting a dead guy's fluids on him. No sir.

Now equipped with _several_ thousand credits, a credit chit he might or might not be able to access, a ship registration, a sealed holo, and the very identity of his last kill, Kevin headed for the door. It was expected that the guards would be outside waiting for an all clear from Bojack. Knowing this, he began to gather dark energy to him. On top of his normal everyday human skills, he was a biotic as well. Such a fact has saved his life many times in the past and would more than likely do the same here. He needed to have the dark energy ready to use in case one of the guards somehow caught on. Feeling satisfied that he was prepared, he then walked out of the room in a very casual manner, thumbing back towards the bed as he passed the guards.

"Wow, I've never seen anyone crash so hard. He's gonna have a nasty headache in the morning. Might not want to disturb him for now."

He slipped by unopposed for the moment, the two guards simply nodding. However, one of the guards was curious, possibly about the state of his next paycheck, and checked back into the room. This was what Kevin figured might happen and made himself ready to release his energy in the form of a biotic move. When the guard came running back out yelling something about blood and murder, Kevin simply turned around and put his hands out towards them, as if motioning for them to slow down and take a chill pill. However, before either of them could get a word in edgewise, they froze in place. Both were suddenly encased in a biotic stasis field – unable to move, speak or do anything other than watch him leave with a slightly smug look on his face. He smirked and spun one hundred and eighty degrees before making a casual and unhindered exit. "Take it easy, boys. Thanks for the night of fun-filled adventure."


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

People were always asking Kevin why at such a young age he chose to go around taking contracts to kill people, especially since such a job is usually done by highly trained professionals. Usually right before he kills _them_, ironically. His response is as repeated as the Omega news reports about local deaths. "_I have a knack for it,_" he would always say. As it turns out, that's more or less the truth. Due in no small part to the fact that when things get tense or he actively focuses hard enough, his brain fires neural synapses at more than twice and a half the speed of normal humans. That's what gives him his... Competitive edge. He's never had any training specifically in the way of outright assassination, but he did go through several training regimens during his time in the Alliance military where he learned to kill humans, turians, krogans and others to fit any necessary mission. He had no extended network of contacts, but rather a few. He would be considered 'unprofessional' or 'a rookie' by other assassins, but he was still rather young by professional standards and he still managed to take out the marked individual either way.

For someone who had a dodgy past of missing spots in memory and hints of heavy experimentation, Kevin certainly didn't come out looking like he did. He bore no scars before he went into military training, nor was he being constantly chased by some shady organization. Considering some of the horror stories he's heard about some of the research projects out in the galaxy, you'd think that there'd be a lot more conflict or _something_, but there was no such thing.

The hyperconcentration, which Kevin amusingly and joking called 'bullet time' in reference to ancient vid-games kids used to play at the turn of the terran millennium, was just one of many side effects. There were many other neural conditions which were the result of experiments when he was not just young, but still in the womb. He vaguely remembers being part of some crazy experiment designed to create humans who could use powerful biotics without the needs for implants. "N1" biotics, they would call them. First generation natural biotics.

Kevin couldn't remember a lot of the details thanks to gratuitous doses of amnesiac meds, but he could remember being told at one point what other effects were generated from that one goal. Some changes were benefits, like brief moments of hyperconcentration when things seem to slow down around him and clear up due to the stronger and faster neural timing required for natural biotics to have any bit of control over their element zero nodules. Others more negative, like debilitating headaches and random spots of memory loss of varying degrees. Fortunately the memory loss could be countered with simple supplements, but the crushing headaches, not so much. Stims, meds, chems... He's tried it all to get the headaches to stop. They were bad enough to stop him in his tracks, no matter how determined he was to move on. Sure they were temporary, but those few pounding minutes were the epitome of painful misery. He considered himself lucky that he hadn't experienced one while on a mission.

As Kevin trudged through the leftover crowds outside of the pulsing Afterlife, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in a dirtied window. He had been here in the pit of Omega for just over a week by now, waiting for Mr. Linus to show his unwittingly promised face. His short brown hair was greasy, if not wretched, and his clothes over his old alliance uniform were filthy and starting to become ragged. Not to mention the various stains from having to 'deal' the the locals. He really did start to look like he belonged here.

Omega does that to people who linger. For him, however, the change was not subtle. He could feel every layer of recirculated dust and airborne grime that fell upon his form. Every cloud of filth kicked up by a group of passers by in the alleyways, he could taste. Each unkempt human, pissed off krogan, slithering batarian, sultry asari, wily salarian, and especially those vorcha – all had unique ways to assault the senses here. Heck, even the few random quarians smelled as though they'd rolled around somewhere between corpses and trash piles rather than what one would think with those sterile envirosuits. Probably from all those rags they tend to don. Kevin was no exception to this any longer, either. He was beginning to assault his _own_ senses. He needed to _get off of this rock_.

Luckily, Linus had parked his vessel at one of the more expensive, closer docking bays. There were guards, but it was obvious by their general disinterest that they were only there to keep Omega's general population from trying to steal any ships or cause trouble on Aria's docking bays. People who parked their ships here paid Aria a good sum, and she wasn't about to betray a fat wallet in that sense. Kevin merely had to flash the newly obtained ship registration and the guards simply nodded before going back to playing some form of game on a small table at the entrance to the docking bays.

It wasn't long at all before he was moving along the docks, staring out a window at _his_ new ship. The vessel was a small frigate, judging by the size. The exterior design was sleek, to say the least. Very modern, and not the usual blocky design most civilian ships tended to lean towards. It classically blended smooth, rounded surfaces with sharp points at the edges. The front was pointed, and as it moved towards the back of the ship, it increased in width, height and depth in a subtle manner. The front tip housed a series of viewports which gave the illusion of menacing and sleek eyes among other things.

The top of the ship arched ever so slightly from the front tip to the tail end, with the highest point of the arch closer towards the front, perhaps one third the way from the front tip. Halfway towards the rear of the ship, the 'neck' ended and the size of the ship tripled in width and depth, while only doubling in height. The transition from neck to body wasn't as extreme as one might think, the overall design resembling something of a very fat and clearly oversized fighter. At the rear, two 'tail wings' split off in a widened V shape off of the top side and extended a tad past the rest of the tail end. There were two long, flat thrusters that ran alongside the rear half or the 'fat' part of the body on the bottom corners of the ship and continued to run off the rear for perhaps one fifth the total length. They weren't exactly horizontal bars jutting off the sides, they were horizontally angled down and away to follow the slight downward curvature of the broadsides, which helped to solidify the sleek look. Near the back end of the thrusters were what appeared to be pivots to allow the thrust direction to be altered slightly during flight. Such designs were top dollar, and it was clear Linus spared no expense.

Kevin had to stop drooling and come to before he made _himself _impatient. Within the minute, he had moved himself off of the alien, thug infested rock and into the airlock and decontamination aboard the clean, shining frigate.

After a rather quick and painless d-con session, he took his first steps onto the civilian frigate. The inside was a spectacle in and of itself. The level of technology aboard the ship was fresh – it must have been recently refitted or built. Judging by the lack of wear and tear, it was more likely the latter. To his immediate left was the bridge, but Kevin always called it a cockpit out of familiarity with much smaller vessels. The systems were in standby mode, but that didn't prevent the myriad of consoles from staying lit and ready for input and observation. The entire bridge, small and cramped with three seats in a forward pointed triangle, was completely aglow with consoles, monitors, systems checks and other lights with purposes unidentifiable due to his limited knowledge of frigates. To his right was the neck of the ship, the left and right sides of the walkway lined with more lights of multiple natures and two juxtaposed consoles on each side for crew to use when maintaining critical systems and other internally associated things. Beyond that was what looked like some sort of briefing room, given away by the large oval table surrounded by pivoting chairs that were bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. The walkway made a Y split after the ship's neck and traced the outer wall of the ship around the table and chairs, each ending at a door on the same wall in the back of the room, but on opposite sides.

Kevin turned right first and headed into the briefing area, wanting a bit more space before he would take care of the first order of business. According to the registration he had acquired from Linus, the ship's name was the _Kellius_. Its external design seemed familiar to him, to the point of placing a quiet nagging in the back of his head, begging for someone to ask that one question. Why was it familiar? Something he read or saw in the past... Kevin tapped his head repeatedly in a vain attempt to knock some of those memories loose, but to no avail. _Maybe it'll come to me later_, he resolved. Regardless, the Kellius was in his possession now, all that was left was to get the internal systems to recognize his authority. Normally, this would be a problem, as the ship's systems wouldn't recognize a stranger's voice print for access.

But Kevin had people. Just not a _lot_ of people.

He learned an interesting trick when it came to ship registrations maintained by a VI system, which the Kellius no doubt had. It allowed him to change the ownership of the registration over to himself _internally_, while outside the ship, everyone else would still recognize the vessel as Linus Werner's petty flagship. He would get full administrative access to all systems, and no one would have an ounce of suspicion unless they boarded the ship themselves. Digitally, whenever the owner of the ship contacted an external system for whatever reason, a name is never used. Instead, the one making the contact is the 'Owner of insert ship name here', so when making deliveries to the Kellius, or requesting a dock, the digital sendout is 'The Owner of the Kellius', and the other end automatically checks the closest iteration of the Galactic Registrations Database server, or GRDserv for who the actual owner is according to the last 'real' registration. The GRDserv systems would then automatically return the registered owner, Linus Werner.

Kevin didn't learn this himself, of course. He knew a decent amount about current technology, but certainly wasn't an engineer. An old salarian friend of his on the Citadel, Tarsil Dolannus, had a lot of contacts. One of these said contacts revealed this method of cracking the VI registration to Tarsil after they had worked together on some clandestine project. Kevin didn't care for the details of the project, but Tarsil was more than happy to give such a useful and rare technique to a close friend of his.

There was only a couple pieces of crucial information one would need to complete this task. Knowledge of the process, knowledge of what systems to hack, and most importantly, the registered owner's failsafe passcode. A series of spoken alphanumeric and numeric characters that should technically only be known by the owner. In the event that a normal voice print or other form of interactive login failed, the passcode would ensure the VI that the person requesting access is truly the owner, immediately granting the speaker temporary owner rights. Temporary in that the moment he or she steps off the ship, the process resets and the next time they step aboard, they would have to do it all once more if the usual login failed. Fortunately, Kevin had a hard copy of Mr. Werner's passcode, chicken scratched onto the back of his registration. Apparently, in all the years since computers were first invented back on earth and cyber security was on the rise, some habits never die.

"This is Linus Werner, execute the registration transfer prorgram." The onboard system responded in a harsh and very practiced female tone.

"TERRA AND VI ONLINE. ALERT: VOICE PRINT UNRECOGNIZED. PLEASE TRY AGAIN OR INITIATE USING THE SECURITY PASSPHRASE."

"This is Linus Werner," he said once again, clearing his throat, "Passphrase twenty-two alpha zeta thirty-four... credit-symbol credit-symbol?" Can that really even be part of a passcode? Good lord.

"PASSPHRASE ACCEPTED – REGISTRATION PROTOCOLS INITIATED. PLEASE ENTER A NAME AND PARAMETER FOR TRANSFERENCE."

"Kevin Folner. Transference parameter is... Business exchange?" _Yah, that'll do fine, _he mused to himself.

"ACCEPTED – REGISTRATION OF THIS VESSEL HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED FROM LINUS WERNER TO KEVIN FOLNER UNDER BUSINESS EXCHANGE NEGOTIATION. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEND THIS CHANGE NOW?"

This is where part two of the registration hack process came. Since the passcode was used, the VI had given full administrative access to Kevin, which gave him the choice of sending the change of registration to the servers now or later – a matter of two Galactic Standard days.

"Uh, no. Don't. In fact, store this data in the encrypted database."

"UNABLE TO GRANT REQUEST – THIS INFORMATION IS REQUIRED TO BE SENT TO THE GALACTIC REGISTRATIONW DATABASE EITHER NOW OR-"

"Ahh, shut up. I'll send it later."

"ACCEPTED. WELCOME ABOARD, KEVIN FOLNER."

"Man, I hate VI's."

Suddenly, the VI's voice changed. It wasn't as obvious as a VI anymore. The female tone was now relaxed and alluring. In all reality, that didn't surprise him much, given Linus' apparent nature. "Greetings, Kevin Folner. Do you have any questions about this ship or its systems?"

Kevin raised a brow at this change, finding communication with the disembodied voice a bit more tolerable. "Yes. Why did you say 'Terra _and_ VI online' when I first requested program execution? Are there two different systems handling requests?"

The response, though relaxed, was still obviously a VI by choice of words and formality of the spoken language. "You are partly correct. There are indeed two systems in place – a standard VI program engine and additionally, the 'Terra' software."

Kevin folded his arms, staring at the ceiling for lack of a better direction to gaze. "What's this Terra software, and why is it installed?" The first of many basic questions to learn the limits of the obviously customized VI.

"The T. E. R. A., or 'Technologically Enhanced and Revised Assistant" software is installed to assist an undersized crew successfully pilot the Kellius in addition to data fetching requests and maintaining the Kellius' critical systems. For simplicity's sake, the assistant software as well as the virtual interface has since been dubbed 'Terra' by the previous owner and has been virtualized as a single software entity."

"So wait, are you rudimentary AI with control of the ship?" It was more a reassurance question than an actual query.

"That is incorrect. The TERA system in place is only allowed basic functionality to advanced systems such as navigation and kinetic barrier functions to assist undersized crews. Specifically, it has been programmed without heuristics and auto-optimization for security reasons."

"Explain basic functionality." 'Basic' was accompanied by the applicable curling of index and middle fingers on both hands.

"Example: Faster than light travel has been super-simplified when under the guidance of Terra. In such a situation as when a pilot is absent, Terra can be set to navigate to any charted world. Terra would then map the navigation routes according to existing trade route data. Counter to this, Terra _cannot_ be used to fly emergency evasive maneuvers or explore uncharted systems."

"But what happens if you get a virus? How well is the Terra system secured?"

"Terra has numerous cyber security suites included and always running, such as programs allowing for the creation and deletion of additional firewalls as needed, perpetually active scanning services, monitoring of communication traffic for potentially hazardous bit additions, and a mainstream anti-virus algorithm set. In the event that a detected virus cannot be isolated or purged, an automatic run-time physically separates the Terra program from the ship's own internal systems. In such an event as this, a full crew will be required in order to fly the ship and maintain all systems. In addition, Terra will not be able to automatically fetch any data not currently residing on the local database."

"That'll be all for now." A short chime sounded, acknowledging his request. As acceptable as the VIs new voice was, the amount of information it spewed upon request was nothing short of typical.

Kevin wasted no time in getting his new shiny ship away from that cesspool of a city. From the briefing room, he made his way to the slightly elevated walkway at the neck of the ship and into the bridge. The Kellius looked as though it was meant to be handled by a full compliment of nine or ten crew members, but could be piloted entirely by one person thanks to Terra. Interesting. And definitely convenient, seeing as how he was the only crew member aboard. He should at least be able to hit up the mass relay and get away from here. In fact, he decided to plot a course for Illium and get compensation for his most recent contract. In the meantime, a quick overview of the Kellius' systems and features was in order. Kevin slipped on a Haptic Adaptive Interface (HAP) glove and within a few taps on the HAP, a detailed list of the systems and features appeared before him.

The first thing Kevin noticed was the stark lack of weapons. The only one was a the token 'Main Cannon', the mass effect-accelerated gun that ran under the entire nose of the ship. It had decent punch, but was very difficult to get a firing solution for, since you had to aim the ship itself rather than just the cannon. _That's insane,_ he thought to himself, _Why would anyone build a new ship with this much tech in it, even a civvie ship, without additional weapons? _It was then that he noticed that despite the fact that no other weapons existed, the systems and hardpoints to integrate more weapons onto the Kellius did in fact exist. _I smell a budget cut. _Most, if not all the systems you'd expect on a civilian vessel were present and active. From life support and a VI core, to navigational mapping, thrust control, and a curiously robust suite of communication protocols. Kinetic barrier systems were de facto on all vessels by now, at least as far as he knew. There was also a vague mention of heat sinks and hull refrigeration systems, but Kevin didn't have any particular interest in that due to not knowing what they were for.

The one thing about this entire ship that stood out the most, even more than the lack of weapons, was the mass effect drive core. It wasn't just some simple civilian-grade drive core. No. It was, from what he could tell, a scaled down version of the Tantalus drive core which was so successfully tested aboard some alliance prototype vessel within the last couple years. He could almost remember the name. Almost. The specifications of the drive denoted the fact that while it was slightly scaled down – sizing in at only two thirds the size of the prototype – the mass effect field generated had not been reduced and was no longer oriented to be perpendicular to the ship's spine. Instead, the entire drive core was turned so that the fore-most part was angled upward about forty-five degrees. It seems even that glorious technological wonder still was subject to improvements. This solidified a growing confusion in Kevin. The ship was clearly civilian, but had things not available to civilian vessel manufacturers. This required some research, which he figured he would conduct later.

The next thing he brought up was a transparent, three dimensional map of the Kellius. He needed to see the layout of the ship if he wanted to utilize it at all.

There were three decks on this ship. The first deck housed, from bow to aft, the bridge, briefing room, deck two access (which looked like a stairwell), medical bay, unusually large mess hall for a frigate sized ship, another stairwell to deck two, a room labeled as 'entertainment', and the master quarters, not commanding officer's quarters. Apparently it wasn't built for military use, which made sense. This 'master quarters' room, located at the aft-most part of the first deck, was easily the largest open spaced room in the entire ship, next to the cargo hold and loading dock.

On deck two there was, again from bow to aft, deck three access (which was starboard as opposed to the port-side deck one to two stairwell), crew quarters, Life support and VI core room, port and starboard observation decks, deck one access stairwell, and the large engineering room. It was large enough that it took up space on both deck two _and _deck three with entrances on both decks.

The lowest deck on the Kellius appeared to be reserved completely for cargo and waste processing. A large door at the front of the cargo room was also the loading ramp, as it would turn down to allow loading of cargo if it landed. With that, Kevin's brief survey of the Kellius was finished. He closed the map and system queries before bringing up the navigational map. He needed a destination, only now remembering that he left two overpaid bodyguards alive. He didn't want them showing up for a surprise exit.

"Alright, Kellius. Let's go get us some creds. Terra, undock and fire up the thrusters," he confidently stated while setting a course for Illium through the local mass relay.

Only moments later, he was en route to the asari Terminus border planet of Illium. In the meantime, Kevin got up from his chair and began making his way to the back of the ship. He wanted to investigate why the master quarters were so large, and take that industrial strength shower while he was at it. As he passed through the briefing room, he noticed a small holo projector in the center of the table, probably for presentations and communications. Fancy. The doors between this room and the next appeared automatic, not having any visible access panels on them. It seemed like they also came with emergency seals in case they needed to block the bridge and this room off from the back. Interesting.

Behind those doors, the hallways merged back together in the center of the ship and continued aft. On his right just as he began down the hallway, he spotted the stairwell to deck two with a luminescent sign above it labeling this floor as deck one. Next to the stairwell door, there was a small list engraved in a metal plate on the wall. VI Core/life support systems, Crew quarters, engineering, and cargo.

From there, the hallway angled right and straightened out alongside the port side of the ship, and a window on the left on the angled portion of the wall revealed the inside of the medical bay. It was decently sized and seemed well equipped. At least well enough to sustain someone until they got to a real medical facility. Further down the hallway revealed the door into said med bay, and next to that was a door into the mess hall. Kevin decided to take a peek into the mess and activated that door. Not even a second later, the door split up into four parts and separated into the walls. He jutted his head inside to see a rather luxurious table and chair setup, and a sectioned off kitchen towards the back. The lights were dim, as no one was using the room, but he could also plainly see a small bar on the backside against the wall. Awesome.

A small ways after the mess hall, the hallway turned left at a ninety degree angle and ran all the way to the starboard side. There were two doors on the right side of this portion of the hall. The one closest to me was the 'Entertainment' room. He'd check that out some other time. Further down was a door for the master quarters. Down at the very end was the other stairwell heading down to the lower deck. At this point, Kevin was already impatiently speed walking to the master quarters door, hardly even waiting for it to split open before stepping into a short hallway which ran outside the entertainment room before coming to a second door at the far end. Perhaps this double door setup was a security check? Not bothering with the recurring thought of such details, he quickly moved beyond the second door.

Now _this_ was nice. It was a semi-circle shaped room, flat on his side and rounded along the aft. As the map suggested, it was easily the second largest open spaced room on the ship. The room was split level, albeit only a few steps difference. There were two sets of four stairs on the port and starboard sides of the room and between them was a massive couch that sat on the lower half. On the starboard wall of the lower section was a bathroom and on the port wall was a large sliding door – presumably for the wardrobe. The back half of the quarters were raised about waist high, and up there was a king-size bed, several modern-styled chairs, a decent sized desk with a computer linked to the ship's systems, and a small table with a set of controls to various things in the room. Additionally, there was a transparent-walled stand-in shower on the port side partially built into the wall. There were multiple observation windows in here, one on the ceiling, and one on the left and right sides that matched the gentle curvature of the room. They appeared to be reinforced, but also looked as though there were armored shutters that could close over them in case the Kellius ever came under attack.

And without further ado, shower time. Placing the sealed box on the desk near the bed, Kevin rid himself of the foul rags and his old alliance uniform before stepping into the spacious and visually exposed shower.

He let out an exasperated sigh as the hot beads of water fall over him. He needed this a lot. At the very least he could relax for a bit before reaching Illium, and he most certainly planned to. Illium wasn't always a friendly place – asari controlled or not. He had to have a clear head so that he could get his money and move on. There was no hurry in his shower, but he finished quickly nonetheless. He was never good at taking a long time to do things. Recent life had taught him otherwise.

He dried himself off with the softest towel he had ever felt, and moved to the closet to figure out what these rich types kept around for clothes. At first, all he noticed where business suits and other expected formal wear, but there were also a couple officer's uniforms in there for some reason. At the far end were a pair of combat undersuits, which struck Kevin as just as strange as the officer uniforms. Maybe for the bodyguards, but why where they in here? An unpleasant thought about the rich man and the male bodyguard in the same room crossed his mind and he silently gagged, quickly removing it from his thoughts.

The colors did appeal to him though and there were no emblems or insignias. Black, white and gray mixed with some light-gold colored lines and details. The pants were cargo-type, having large pockets on the legs for carrying thermal clips and other things. There were also a pair of space-ready hardsuits on the opposite end from the undersuits. One was well armored, but looked like it weighed as much as an elcor. The other was less armored, but seemed more flexible and mobile. Above the heavier one hung a breather helmet that looked as though it could be used interchangeably on either hardsuit. He grabbed a combat undersuit and put it on, surprised at how well it fit. The pants needed a belt, but nothing major.

After dressing himself, Kevin climbed onto the bed and laid down diagonally across it, just staring out the ceiling observation window at the stars, sometimes obscured by waves of visible blueshifted energy rushing by. Suddenly he had remembered just how long it had been since he got some real sleep, and his eyes shut by themselves. The ship was unbelievably quiet. Omega was never quiet. He always enjoyed silence...


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

Kevin woke up with a slight jump at hearing Terra's automated response. "Be advised: We will be approaching Illium space in a matter of ten minutes."

The first thing he noticed before even opening his eyes was the blazing and crippling headache he had. He rolled over and fell off of the bed, smacking the cold metal floor with an audible thud just after Terra had finished.

"Augh! Yeah, thanks Terra. Shut up. Or down." It probably wasn't a command, but he had to try.

His head pounded. It wasn't the same as a migraine – light and sound didn't amplify the headache in the same ways. However, it tended to be so debilitating that he could do nothing but hold his head for a few minutes, if anything at all. He'd always wondered if that was what an L2 biotic felt when they flared. Grabbing his head, Kevin shut his eyes tight and groaned. Four everlasting and torturing minutes passed before the pain finally began to subside. That's how it usually happened. Four to five minutes of nothing but immobilizing pain, and then it resided enough for him to be able to function again. Even after that, the pain typically took hours to disappear completely. During that time things still seemed warped for as long as the pain existed, just not as painful as the initial five minutes.

He stood up and rubbed his temples out of habit. It never actually helped, but then again it was a psychological comfort. This had been happening more frequently as of late. Back when he was a late teenager, the spikes only came once or twice a year. More recently it seemed to come around several times a year, sometimes multiple times a month. Nothing ever curbed the intensity, either. No meds, no stims, nothing.

Hazily, he moved away from the bed and grabbed the sealed cube from off of the desk. He threw it into one of the large leg-side pockets and clipped it shut. After rubbing his face down and letting out a deep sigh, he grabbed a pistol and its holster from the closet and attached it to his belt. He paused as he took a moment to look at the pistol he grabbed. It wasn't any normal stock grade pistol, it was a pistol made by Kassa Fabrication, known for having top of the line products. Certainly not civilian's first choice, but a rich man would probably go for whatever looked the most expensive.

This was particularly good news to Kevin. A superior quality pistol like this meant he could modify it significantly since the materials are of a higher grade. Maybe he'd find something on Illium.

He made his way to the cockpit just in time to begin calling for a place to dock. He searched about the cockpit and found the communications terminal, switching it to the default local docking channel and immediately sending his request.

"This is the Kellius, requesting permission to dock." Kevin sat back and rubbed his eyes a bit before an asari responded.

"Welcome to Illium, Kellius. You are cleared for docking in bay A one twenty-five."

"Received, proceeding to dock A one twenty-five. Kellius out." _A one twenty-five?_ _Crap, that's a small dock for a ship this size_, he thought. It was going to be a tight fit, especially since his ability to pilot a frigate in tight spaces was. . . Less than perfect. One could certainly hope it wasn't too crowded down there today.

He directed the Kellius through the docking lanes, heading towards the building where his assigned dock resided. Skyscrapers of impressive height sped by the sides of his ship, practically designed to keep anything larger than a car from maneuvering easily. Like huge speed bumps. Glossy exteriors reflected the serrated, yet serene horizon. _It's too bad it's only late afternoon, _Kevin mused. _The scene is exponentially more breathtaking at sunset. _

A few tight turns mixed with some shaky adjustments and the dock appeared around a last corner. The rounded bubble-like roof of the building housing the hangar unpleasantly reflected the hot Tasale sun right into his eyes for a brief moment, making him squint instinctively. That irritation quickly subsided when he suddenly had to focus on docking the ship. This dock wasn't as big as most others, and there was one other ship in the hangar. It could have been worse, but it would still be a tight fit. Yikes. Kevin ground his teeth together after a nasty close call; he almost knocked his port thruster against the outside corner. Luckily, the only casualties were a stack of large metal shipping crates. He should have guessed docking a ship this size would be harder than the shuttles fighter-sized ships he was used to. He could fly a ship well enough in open space, but he was certainly no trained pilot.

Finally docked, he proceeded through the airlock and out into the Illium atmosphere. The wall of hot and slightly more humid air starkly contrasting the pristine controlled environment of the Kellius hit Kevin square in the face. The change wasn't as extreme as it seemed, but it had been a while since he was last on an actual planet. He paused on the dock and took in a large sniff of air, distinctly recalling the carefully concocted scent of clean business and shady dealings like a pricey, mixed drink personally put together for you by the bartender at high class clubs and lounges. Shaken and on the rocks. It was something one tended not to forget, as just knowing this air could save a guy a lot of trouble down the road. Stepping away from his ship, Kevin peered at a holographic Nos Astra city map; he was rather unfamiliar with this port, and this area of the city in general.

_I'm going to have to call a cab_, he grumbled under his breath. _My contact isn't anywhere near this place_. _Just my luck_. Hangar A one twenty-five was in the south district of Nos Astra – one of five districts throughout the entire city. Nos Astra was easily one of the largest and most popular cities on Illium, and it showed. South district was known for borderline illegal dealings and a heightened police presence. Fortunately, he had just 'inherited' several thousand credits courtesy of Mr. Werner, so getting around shouldn't be hard.

Kevin stepped outside of the hangar and onto a large platform attached to the side of the building. On the far end of the platform was a console jutting out of the floor for calling in cabs for quick transport around the city. As he approached it, he saw the usual two options on the screen – one for automatic, unmanned transports, and one for cabs piloted by employed workers. Kevin selected the manned cab and looked upward towards the travel lanes as if a cab were to drop in right away.

There were several reasons why manned transports were more popular than automated ones. The first is that manned transports, while bound by certain laws and regulations for piloting a vehicle, generally were far more flexible with flight paths. Automated transports had preprogrammed routes using the travel lanes outlined by the city, and were very formal and centered. Drivers could cut corners, take shortcuts and use other means to make a faster drive, not to mention improvise if something went wrong. Another main reason for the popularity of manned over unmanned was that automated cabs deducted credits from your chit as you rode. It wasn't unheard of for the credit gathering system to be modified to provide certain individuals or groups with a few extra overcharged and stolen credits without the owning company becoming aware until it was too late. In manned cabs, the driver was responsible for charging the customer, whether the deduction was automatic or not. Any illicit change in the amount of credits received from passengers was illegal and meant a lot more trouble than losing a cab job.

While it wasn't right away, a cab did break off of the travel lane within the minute and landed next to Kevin. The classic cab, which had the door and windshield hinged at the back opened up and an asari looked up at him. He gave the driver an analyzing glance, along with the rest of the cab. Noticing nothing strange or out of place, he stepped in and sat in the back.

"To the eastern district trade range, please," he requested.

"Certainly, sir!" The driver smiled and shut the doors, with the abhorrent whine of the engines increasing in volume as they began to take off.

As Kevin sat back into the comfortable back seat of the cab, he thought about why he made himself get into the infrequent habit of checking drivers he rode with. Casually staring out the side window, a memory began to play back in his head in his boredom. . .

_It was the fifth time he had been to Illium. He was pursuing his fifteenth contract in a span of a __month on Illium, a notably higher number than most places – even Omega. Most were from various random contractors, and he believed only two of all fifteen contracts came from the same source. The thing was, all of these contracts were to take out certain members of a huge gang, or 'Protection Service Group', Eclipse. The Eclipse were particularly strong here on Illium, likely due to the fact that this planet bordered the Terminus Systems. Apparently they had been getting on a lot of people's nerves lately._

_ Kevin knew that such a high concentration of hits on one organization would mean trouble for him. It was only a matter of time before the organization picked up on it and would begin to target him specifically, but he just didn't know how soon it would show. He had already decided that his current target would be the last before he would have to leave Illium for a while. He got a lead on his last target, and he wasted no time in moving. Firstly, he needed to relocate. The marked individual wasn't in that district, so he hailed a cab._

_ The cab showed up rather quickly, even by Illium standards. The side doors opened with a resounding click and a short, well maintained hum. Inside, a stunningly beautiful asari with dark and ominous eyes asked him where he was off to._

_ "I'm heading towards the Teiser district of Nos Tarlas. Going that way?" Kevin casually asked the blue driver._

_ "Certainly," she happily replied with a smile and a nod towards the back seat. Without hesitation, he sat down quietly and the doors shut. A glance of something slightly out of place caused Kevin to pause as he pondered what it was he saw but he quickly dismissed it as nerves. He needed to keep suspicion down. Chances were that Eclipse was already keeping an eye out for him. The liftoff was quiet and smooth. _

_ "So what are you heading over to Teiser for, if you don't mind my asking?" the asari asked. It was common for cab operators to ask generic questions during the ride._

_ "Financial business," was his vague answer._

_ "Is that all?" It at least sounded like a genuine inquiry._

_ "Yes."_

_ "Oh. . ." Disappointed at the blatant lack of conversation, she focused on her direction._

_ "Sorry. I just make it a point to not talk about my financial business. People on Illium have a tendency to. . . Inquire into places they have no business snooping about, as I'm sure you know."_

_ "Point taken, sir. I didn't mean to pry." Just like that, the conversation was over._

_ A few minutes later, they landed. Kevin looked about, knowing that they shouldn't have. The trip should have been at least four point six five minutes longer. Red flags went up all over the place in Kevin's mind and his eyes sharpened. The passenger seat in front of him backed up, pinning him and keeping him from quickly moving. The asari then quickly got out of the shuttle, even so fast as to leave the starter card on the dashboard. The doors shut behind her, faster than automated motors were designed to. Kevin watched her casually walk away from the vehicle, as if she achieved victory. That's when he noticed it. Dangling off of the starter card was a small insignia. A metallic circle, green with a large gold E imprinted on it, jagged and sharp. Eclipse. He shook his head feeling ridiculously stupid, but he wasn't about to let them just off him. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open from the inside. This wasn't just any old cab, it was a modified ambush device._

_ He then noticed a salarian and another asari come walking out from a nearby building. She had what looked to be a Armax Arsenal missile launcher. Bad news. But again, Kevin wasn't about to just let them eliminate him. He took a brief moment to concentrate, gathering dark energy and activating the element zero nodules in his body. Seconds later, a concentrated a biotic force was released from his left hand into the side of the car, leaving a large gaping hole. That got their attention real fast, and he could hear the distant beeps of a missile launcher locking a target. _

_ Kevin's vision focused entirely on that missile tip just as it began to leave the launcher. Things seemed to slow down as the tension built, and right away he knew what to do. Having never ceased gathering dark energy to himself, he focused what he gathered into the tips of his right hand fingers and let forth another concentrated biotic throw, this time using a special curving technique he learned years ago during a specialized military biotic training regimen. The force of his biotics was pointed downwards, but curved upwards just before skimming the floor so that the resulting hit on the missile would not be dead on, but at an upward angle on the forward cone from below._

_ Halfway to its destination, the lethal missile was smacked upward at a ninety degree angle and its direction changed enough for the automatic homing systems to take over to attempt to fix the trajectory. As it attempted to correct the path between itself and its target, the missile curled backwards and performed a backwards flip to resume its horizontal course. Unfortunately for the launcher-wielding asari and salarian, the missile did not have enough height to complete the maneuver and landed smack dab between the two; exploding on impact. Those two Eclipse members were done on the spot – their kinetic barriers couldn't handle a point-blank explosion._

_ The cab driver, however, lived. She was thrown from the explosion, landing about two to three meters from where she previously stood. Kevin stepped out of the cab, straightened his clothes, and casually walked over to her. A bleeding head turned to face him, and her reeling eyes tried to come together to focus on the blurry image of the human from the cab. She gasped, rolling onto her back so that she could try and scoot away in vain – her limbs were beyond numb. This amused Kevin,, for some reason. Watching an asari helplessly try to crawl away from a doom she brought upon herself almost seemed ironic._

_ Kevin simply sat down next to her and waved an index finger side to side before her face._

_ "Such a tactic is insulting to me. Did you think I was a fool?" Dramatic language always made things more interesting._

_ She shook her head, of course. She looked so pitiful – all banged up and helpless on the ground. The human then revealed not a pistol, but an ornate black dagger and twirled it between his fingers a few times. There wasn't even any need for a pistol here. He pressed the broad side down on the lower portion of her calf and pulled it upwards along her leg, pressing down on the tip just enough to heavily fray or outright cut the tight black clothes she had on without doing much more than scratch the flesh underneath. It wasn't quite enough to expose her body, but that's not what he was going for. It was little more than a scare tactic._

_ She whimpered about halfway up her hip and Kevin paused, staring her in the eyes. She had tears now, whether from fear or from the pain of her injuries, he could not tell. He knew she was incapable of biotics at this point. She had to be able to move to perform those._

_ She muttered two words:"I-I'm sorry..."_

_ Kevin's response was simple, "Tell that to your two friends there. You brought me to them."_

_ He cracked a brief smile, mostly at the irony of the statement. Then he let the blade flow forth and embed itself into her neck at an upward angle. Her body convulsed for a split second before going limp and-_

"We have arrived, sir," the driver announced, breaking his concentration.

He looked up from his daze to see that they had indeed arrived at the eastern district. He waved his inherited credit chit in front of the deduction device to pay his fee and got up out of the vehicle.

"Thank you, sir! Have a pleasant day." Another super-sized smile, almost too cheery for a cab driver. She must have been new.

"Uh, thanks. You too." Good lord she sounded like a VI, what with being all proper and cheery. Nevertheless, she offered him one more smile before closing the doors and taking off.

The landing point was a sort of central hub-like bridge branched between five or six different nearby skyscrapers. There wasn't much for support architecture except for several beams that ran the hypotenuse from each building to their respective side of the bridge. The view, though. . . It was fantastic. The surrounding skyscrapers weren't exactly close enough to block _all_ the view and even looking down over the edge was a sight to behold.

Kevin knew he was here on a mission, however, and couldn't dwell long. Eclipse knew who he was, and they'd try anything to get to him after all the trouble he caused them a year back. He didn't think they'd have trouble remembering him, especially since he had taken a couple sparsely timed contracts on Eclipse members since then and likely kept their memory fresh.. He drew in a deep breath, turned to his left and started making his way into the nearest skyscraper, which had a roof that looked as though it had been shaven off at a downward angle and fixed with glass to close the gap. His contact, a volus named Verat Klarr, should be a couple floors down 'visiting' a few of the sales kiosks.

That money-grubbing agent better have his money. Kevin was in no mood to chase his creds today. Verat wasn't exactly known for being there when you were expecting him, and tended to keep your due credits when you 'failed to show for the meeting.' Luckily for Kevin, the stairs down were right inside the doors. No dealing with 'high class drunks' this time. That last time with the asari commando and the turian commander on shore leave... Ridiculous. He didn't even know turians could bend that way, or that asari used biotics for. . . such exotic purposes. Kevin shook his head to focus on where he was going and within a couple minutes he had reached the lower trade range of the eastern district on the fringes of Nos Astra.

He actually had to search, which was unusual in the sense that he could normally pick a target out of a crowd pretty well. There seemed to be more volus than he remembered here from last time, but it was not of his concern. Shops here ranged from normally illicit weapons kiosks, 'protection services' shops, an indentured service store and gambling of a few sorts. Bright and colorful lights on various areas on the walls, floors and ceilings dazzle newcomers and light up the place in a way that makes some of the citadel's wards look like a colorless prison. It was more crowded than the 'clean' look of the center district, where a lot of the white collar business tended to sit. The noise pollution, at best, was remarkably higher than up on the hub bridge. That was probably due to being such a tight, enclosed space inside the skyscraper. These lower levels had to be closed up in order to keep climate control working at optimum levels against the relatively hot surface of the planet.

Kevin searched as he walked, making mental notes of the people he passed by. Several volus, a bunch of turian, a lot of asari and even a couple hanar all moved chaotically around the lower trade range Unfortunately, none of these matched his contact. Did the little bugger make off with his creds? That thought never left his mind. The guy that hired Kevin is going to be pissed when he finds out that he's charging double for this insult.

He decided to give the crook a minute and leaned onto a kiosk as if browsing the store. Coincidentally, it just happened to be a weapons dealer, too. He spotted a 'prototype' accelerator pistol mod that this dealer likely wasn't allowed to sell due to rather tight licensing on that type of mod. The sales clerk was a volus, so Kevin gambled on the fact that probably had no detailed knowledge of the mod. The price reflected it as well, putting it around the same worth as a typical pulsar mod. Kevin decided to grab it, easily shelling out the seven hundred credits for the modification. He also bought a high powered phasic mod for about one thousand to accompany it.

As he browsed, he felt various figures pushing past him. Some were in a hurry and some just strolling by, attempting to navigate the lightly compacted crowd. It was only about a minute or so after he had made his purchase that an asari with deep blue stripes running from her mouth over her face and over her head-ridges approached him from behind through the crowd. She wore a green and white dress, almost typical of maiden-stage asari on this planet. He didn't look directly in her direction, so Kevin didn't think she knew he was watching. She didn't appear to have any weapons, but an assassin quickly learns not to underestimate an unarmed asari – especially when they happen to be an undercover commando.

She moved closer, presumably to get close enough so that she would not have to shout over the noise. It seemed his intuition was correct. She was searching exclusively for him.

"Excuse me, but do you by any chance go by the name Folner?" Red flag. An unknown person knew his name in the area of a contact he was to meet. Unconsciously, he already had a preemptive grip on his sidearm.

"Maybe. Who wants to know?"

"Someone in the central district wishes to see you."

"Assuming I _am_, what would this be about? I wouldn't be going anywhere with intel as vague as that," Kevin stated, crossing his arms and leaning back against the weapons kiosk.

She looked right and left and motioned for him to come closer. Recognizing this as a typical ambush position, Kevin simply tilted his head in obvious distrust. She sighed.

"It is in regards to your contact. I cannot tell you anything more here. Go see the information broker in the central district and she'll explain."

Before Kevin could ask her anything else, she backed up and disappeared into the crowd. He rolled his eyes, hung his head, and let out an exasperated sigh of irritation. Great. His contact got mugged, capped, or both. He just wanted his due creds for crying out loud. He tapped the side of the kiosk as he stood and got out of that lower trade range before something else happened. Back up to the hub he trekked, calling for a cab once he was outside. One of the great things about Illium – cabs were bountiful, cheap and tended to have drivers that were easy on the eyes. Automated cabs were available, but were unpopular and as such, less common.

"Hey human, where are you off to?" The way she said _human_ sounded more like an identifier than an insult.

"Central district trade floor, please."

"Oh ho ho, manners.~ Right away, sir." She seemed pleasantly surprised by the simple fact that he said 'please'. Kevin got the feeling off-worlders didn't use the cabs because they wanted to anymore. A pity. He eyed the setup of the cab before stepping in and found it to be clean. Before he knew it, he was already landing outside the trade floor in the central district of Nos Astra. Exiting the cab, he waved the chit twice and immediately began heading for the doors to the trade floor, where the information broker's office was. Behind him, the asari driver called after him about paying her too much or something. Knowingly, Kevin simply looked back and nodded, distracted by this unfortunate – but not entirely unforeseen – turn of events. A genuine 'thank you' was heard before the cab took off.

Thankfully, this place was far less crowded than the lower trade range. It made tracking individuals much easier and allowed him to relax his nerves just a bit. He kept an eye out for his volus 'friend', but he was not anywhere to be seen. When he walked up to the information broker's door, the human receptionist called to him.

"Hi there, what can I do for you today, sir?" The friendly voice, trained for the job, was countered by the unmistakable fact that she was new. Her desk was clean. Not 'tidy' clean, but more to the effect of 'I don't have a lot to put here yet' clean.

"I'm here to see the broker. I was contacted over in the east district." Precise and to the point.

"Oh! Go on in, she'll be expecting your visit."

Without a word of thanks, Kevin simply turned and walked through the opening door, looking around a bit before stepping inside. One could never be too careful, especially when dealing with shadow broker agents. Behind the only real desk in the room overlooking the trade floor, an asari with a formal dress and deep green markings on her face poked her head out from behind the computer screen and stared Kevin down blankly for a brief moment before smiling and standing.

"You must be Kevin. Welcome." She held out a hand in greeting. Naturally, he accepted.

"You're not the infamous Liara I was expecting. Is this some sort of trick?" The potential for bad things to happen would just not end today.

"Sounds like you know a few things, Kevin. Be wary of what you speak here on Illium." Her smile by this point was a bit more forced than before. "Unfortunately, Ms. T'Soni had some urgent and permanent business to take care of a few weeks ago. I am here to fill the position of trade floor administration and information broker in her stead. My name is Tarla Morrahl."

"Well, miss Morrahl," Kevin sternly started. "As I told last time I was here, I am no newcomer to Illium. There is no need to address me as such."

"Indeed." She offered him a nice plush seat in front of her desk.

"So," Kevin continued, sitting down and steepling his fingers over his lap, "You have information on my contact? That worries me a bit, though I suppose it shouldn't surprise me seeing as how you both probably work for the same guy." Her face turned less than pleasant for a split second before she looked to the side and answered.

"My sources tell me he was ambushed in the lower trade range yesterday. The assailants were not visibly from any known organization. Possibly Eclipse mercenaries with their tattoos removed."

"Figured as much. A volus without bodyguards is like a ripe fruit waiting to be picked." He shook his head with a sigh and looked back to Tarla. He sat back, getting into a slightly more confident and relaxed position. "Funny how he's the only volus in recent memory to have gotten 'mugged' in the trade range," he pushed, the word 'mugged' coupled with the proper lifted hands and bending fingers to simulate quotation marks, "or in any relatively public area of Illium. So much for that promised safety, yes?"

"Illium is just as dangerous as any other Terminus bordering world, Mr. Folner. You know that as well as I do. Back to the reason I called you here for, I have received the pay you were to be getting, and I can forward it to your account immediately. Assuming you have proof of termination of the marked individual."

"Here, love," Kevin started as he pulled his new favorite credit chit from inside a pocket on his outfit and tossed it on her desk, "put it on here instead. As for the proof..."

He reached into his bulging right leg pocket pulled out the sealed box. He pressed a small button on the side and the top opened up, revealing the contents. He stood up and reached through the holographic monitor, placing the box on the desk right in front of her.

"There you go. A holo of the terminated mark and blood to match DNA files."

Tarla pushed the box aside with mild disgust without even cross-referencing the DNA and smiled, typing a few things on her computer.

"Very well, Mr. Folner. Payment of ten thousand credits to this chit, correct? Done."

"Pleasure doing business. Now if you'll exc-" He was cut off by an asari busting into the room, wearing a typical service worker's uniform.

"Tarla, you were right! The ship's configuration is sim-" She cut herself off when she caught a glimpse of Kevin standing right there. Her lips sealed up tight after that.

Kevin looked back to Tarla and she was silently mouthing words to the nameless asari who just entered. Said nameless asari simply looked at Kevin and nodded before backing up to leave.

"Where did you get that ship, Mr. Folner?"

"That information is worth quite a bit, Miss Morrahl. Not something I'll likely just let drop. Also, are your people snooping my vessel? That quite a trespassing suit if so." He folded his arms, beginning to slowly pace back and forth in front of her desk.

"No no. No one has been aboard your ship, Mr. Folner. The observations were merely exterior. And I can pay you quite a sum of credits for that information."

Two red flags, shadow broker agents scouting his ship AND removing his contact. This was getting way out of hand. He was already staying two red flags longer than he should have, now he worried. Why was the shadow broker even interested in him or his ship? Time to get the heck off of Illium.

"I propose a trade, Tarla. I tell you where I got my ship, and you tell me something of equal value." She hesitated a moment, evaluating just how valuable this information could be to her.

"Very well, Mr. Folner. What is it you wish to know?" She now equipped her poker face, as business was being done on an information level – her expertise.

"I want to know who Linus Werner worked for, and why he was targeted by the shadow broker." This seemed to be an acceptable trade to the asari, as she didn't hesitate long.

"Just one moment," she paused, deferring to her terminal for that information. She tapped the keys for a few seconds before drawing in a breath. "My sources tell me Linus Werner was working for the shadow broker himself, one of his top agents, in fact. He was targeted for assassination because it was discovered that he was a double agent for another organization, and that was simply unacceptable."

"Who was he a double agent for?" he asked, curious.

"That information, Mr. Folner, is worth more than ten times the information I just gave you. Now, where did you get that vessel?" At this time, her voice was far less inviting. Almost dark.

"That ship, the Kellius?" Kevin folded his hands behind his back and turned towards the door. "I acquired it from my last target, Linus Werner. After ending his life, his ship was the easiest of many options off of Omega, and certainly provided the most luxurious way out. Either way, the ship is now mine."

The asari looked down for a moment, brows furrowed as if troubled. He had turned around in just enough time to catch it before she quickly returned to her poker face, realizing he could see her momentary expression.

"That's a frigate sized vessel, doesn't it need a crew of at least ten? How did you get that here on your own?"

"five thousand more credits and I'll tell you," he said smugly.

"You work a fast game, Mr. Folner, but it is done." Kevin noted her willingness to obtain all information about his ship. It made him doubly uneasy. Normally information like this would undergo at least _some_ level of negotiation.

"The ship is indeed a small frigate, but not so technologically old that it needs all ten to pilot it. Some of the systems aboard the ship are rather advanced for what I'd expect even on a wealthy civilian's vessel. Particularly in navigation and systems control."

The information broker brought a hand to her chin in thought and nodded.

"Thank you, Mr. Folner. I'm glad we could reach a settlement so quickly. Unfortunately, I am due to meet someone very soon, so I am afraid I must ask you to be on your way."

"Fair enough," he agreed, stepping forward to get his metaphorically fat stack of credits. "Oh and next time you decide to off one of my contacts, at least send someone who looks less like a seasoned biotic user, alright?"

Before she could really reply, Kevin had turned and started his way out. Before the door closed behind him, he could swear he heard her curse under her breath. As he turned to head down the stairs, the receptionist called after him.

"Thank you for your visit, Mr. Folner! I hope you had a pleasant meet with Tarla."

He paused and turned around just long enough to respond with a slight chuckle. "Oh yes, just peachy. Have a good day."

And with that, he was back down to the trade floor in the center of Nos Astra. This place was becoming more and more dangerous behind the scenes lately, not to mention the unnerving number of red flags just from today. He immediately made for the closest place to pick up a cab so he could get back to his ship before anyone else decided to scope it out. As he proceeded through the shipping area, he passed by an asari and salarian arguing over something likely rather trivial. Piece by piece, he began picking up on their conversation even as he kept moving. One particular part caused him to stop and look.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dolannus, but there aren't any transports scheduled to leave for the Citadel today. You'll just have to wait like everyone else."

The asari was a typical dock worker, helping take care of the shipments that moved through the shipping area and probably had a good idea of transport services as well. The salarian though. . . Kevin knew that name. Dolannus. He had a contact on the Citadel with that last name, and they were good buddies. This was not the same guy, though. He wore a salarian Eclipse uniform, and his friend was _definitely_ not Eclipse. He did, however, carry a military grade pistol with him. Not a standard Eclipse issue pistol. In addition, he sported the same back-turned 'horns' on the top of his head as opposed the the ones that simply curved and pointed together like most salarians. Tarsil Dolannus, Kevin's friend on the Citadel, said it was a unique family trait they are proud of and that they often came out on top in breeding arrangements because of it. Apparently such a unique trait among salarians was regarded as a pricey rarity rather than some form of defect.

"But I need to get off of Illium. _Now._ I can't wait for tomorrow!" At this point, the salarian was looking rather worried and kept pressing the asari for resolution.

"Then find a transport going somewhere other than the citadel," the asari spat, getting irritated. "There's plenty of other places to go, and a bunch of them are leaving today."

"But I. . ." He shook his head. "Fine fine, I'll just find some other desolate planet to curl up on, I get the picture."

The asari shook her head in frustration and simply walked away. "I don't get paid enough for this."

The salarian hung his head for a second before steeling his resolve and preparing to find another way off the planet. It was at this point Kevin stepped in.

"Your last name is Dolannus?"

Slightly startled, the salarian turned all the way around once before actually looking at Kevin.

"Maybe. Who wants to know?" His speech was fast and calculated, and he rubbed his fingers together in nervous anticipation of the answer.

Kevin put his hands up and they bobbed in front of the salarian. "Relax a bit. My name is Kevin Folner. Do you have a brother named Tarsil Dolannus on the Citadel?"

"Maybe. Who. Wants. To. Know?" He almost looked ready to pull his sidearm. Kevin would be ready for that.

"No one except me. I'm not working for anyone. At the moment."

"Kevin Folner, you said?" The salarian tapped two of three fingers on his chin. "Yes... Yes I remember Tarsil talking about you from time to time." He seemed to relax a bit.

"Hopefully not much," Kevin joked. "That guy tells some wild stories." He chuckled under his breath, shaking his head at remembering some of the stories he had been told.

"True, Tarsil does enjoy rousing a crowd with a good pseudo-fiction story." He let out a sigh. "Alright, I suppose I can trust you more than the other thugs around here. My name is Ralik. Ralik Dolannus. Tarsil is indeed my brother."

"You look a lot like him, you know that?"

"Normally I argue that _he_ looks a lot like _me_, but you know Tarsil. He's older than me by forty-five minutes. So in actuality, I do look a lot like him."

"Actually, I didn't know that much, but hey. I do now. I overheard that you need a ride. Why in such a hurry?"

Ralik lightened up rather fast. "You have a ship then? Where is it?"

"It's docked in the southern district," Kevin said while flicking a thumb to the south. "We'll need to take a cab to get there. Why don't you tell me what's going on on the way?"

"Well..." Another rub of the fingers and a quick look left and right. "Alright, but let's move discreetly. I... I don't want to bring too much attention to ourselves right now."

And so they headed out of the shipping area and towards the best place to call a cab on this skyscraper – the nook loaded with cars outside the officer Dana's office.

"So why the discretion? You look awfully nervous, not to mention in such a hurry to get out of here. Someone after you?" Kevin pressed on the console to call for a driven cab, and no one came. Not right away, at least. He needed to opt for manned transport, since automatic cabs were easily susceptible to being hacked by the technologically savvy Eclipse gang.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I believe a good portion of the Eclipse mercenary gang is trying to catch and horribly dismember me at the moment."

"Them again. But wait, you're in an Eclipse hardsuit. Aren't you one of them? Why would they be after you?" Kevin asked in a serious tone, again pressing on the cab call console.

"Well. . . The hardsuit isn't exactly mine, and I'll explain. I'm a field researcher and recon specialist. I was recently hired by the Nos Astra police force to help research a potential kinetic barrier upgrade for the non-asari personnel on the force. As I was researching, I came across a few recent messages passed along via extranet that someone on Illium was nearing completion of a prototype PCBT."

"Hold on a second. PCBT? I know CBT stands for Cyclonic Barrier Technology, but what is the P for?" Kevin was curious. He knew enough about tech that he could still get into decent conversations, even without fully understanding it all.

"Personal Cyclonic Barrier Technology," Ralik stated with a confident smile.

"That's. . . Impressive. I've never heard of that used on anything but a lucky few fighters and even fewer frigates."

"Indeed. It's a very advanced and power-hungry design, but could considerably decrease kinetic barrier failure in short firefights."

After seeing that no cabs were coming, Ralik himself activated the console . This time, however one came right away. They climbed aboard and specified their destination.

"Southern district, please," Kevin ordered. "As close to dock A one twenty-five as possible." He and his new salarian acquaintance settled in as the asari nodded and began to take off. This cab was an interestingly different model from what Kevin saw for years. The door on the side opposite the engine opened up without compromising the windshield, and it opened straight out and up rather than on a hinge at the back. The cab was practically brand new on the inside, it must be an upgrade for the Nos Astra Public Transportation Services.

Ralik then continued. "I too saw the great potential this had and deemed it an appropriate upgrade for the NAPF, so I sought out whoever was designing this technology so that I might possibly negotiate a contract to let the police also have this installed on their hardsuits. However, the more I dug for information, the more I came to realize that this was being done by the techs on the Eclipse mercenary gang. Worse than that, they had planned to use this new shielding _against_ the Nos Astra police force when conflicts arose so that they might come out superior."

"Yeah, that's not good. Things are pretty balanced right now, but that would tip that balance for Eclipse – and not for the better of Illium."

"I thought as much myself. I did some data mining and surveillance on the information and found the design project was actually stationed here in Nos Astra. I had to. . . What's the phrase you humans use... Ah yes, 'jump through some hoops' in order to get detailed information on the location of the project, but I was able to mark out a rather small location – four or five buildings in Nos Astra's southern district – where I might find it. From there, I put my reconnaissance skills to work and picked out an asari and salarian who were part of the project but fronting as biotic amp sales clerks, attending kiosks."

"Where did you learn the skill sets for all this? I thought you said you were a field researcher." Something didn't add up to Kevin. There was a lot of background information that he felt was intentionally being left out.

"I'll get to that in a moment. Anyways, I followed the asari, due to the fact that they split up. They eventually met back up on a different building at a lower level. There's a general underground knowledge of that area being Eclipse territory, so there are a lot of guards stationed near there warning people to keep an eye out for trouble, so on and so forth. I'm not _extensively_ trained in infiltration, but I still have more than enough ability to. And even then, the Eclipse base here wasn't well conceived as far as anti-infiltration standards go. All I needed was a good look at the blueprints for the tower and I had a more or less silent way in."

"By yourself? That's risky. That is, unless you really knew what you were doing."

"Like I said, I'll get to that. Once inside I picked out the salarian I had been following and waited for him to break off. He did, eventually, and I caught him while getting his Eclipse uniform on. That's when I struck. I acquired his IDs, uniform and omni-tool. Using these three things, I gained access to the central servers where the data for the project were being held. I had to copy his omni-tool authorizations in order to begin the download of the project files, as mine was not recognized by the system. Once I had a complete copy in my possession, I proceeded to delete the files the quickest and most systemically efficient way I knew how – a destructive virus planted within the kernel of the central server. Thus the project – among a lot of other data that the Eclipse probably wanted to keep – was deemed unrecoverable in a matter of minutes."

"Wow," Kevin laughed. "Talk about done and done. Brutally efficient, my friend. Obviously you made it out well enough."

"Initially I had little resistance. The Eclipse uniform and the fact that I was salarian helped me get at least halfway out without so much as a warning that someone was tampering with the servers. Unfortunately, my family trait caused someone to question my identification." Ralik took a moment to tap his backward pointed horns. "At that point it was a shoot and run situation, but without a flight off the planet, I knew I would be hounded until I was beyond their reach."

"And that's where I come in, I suppose."

"Precisely! And I am very grateful for it. You have _no_ idea."

Kevin saw the asari wave to a passing car and took the moment to look outside. They were a little over halfway to the drop-off point, and he settled back into his seat. He turned to ask Ralik another question, but he was stopped by the distracting fact that the driver waved again. Now that he thought about it, when did anyone ever wave to other drivers? They moved too fast to recognize other people in their cars. He then was struck by the dire fact that he had been too distracted by his conversation with Ralik to give the cab a once over. Kevin leaned over from his seat behind the driver and looked around without catching her attention. He saw something he did not want to see. A small dangling Eclipse emblem.

She waved one more time. Ralik started to ask Kevin something, but was quickly silenced by a hand brought over his mouth. This situation just got critically worse, and Kevin knew it was going to get messy, fast. He got up and looked behind them out through the rear window of the cab and he noticed two cars right behind them, and a third pulling from the opposite directional lane to make a flat triangle formation with those other two.

"Please remain seated, sir. I cannot be responsible for unseated injuries while I'm driving." It appeared as though she hadn't noticed Kevin's sudden change of urgency.

Ralik did, though. He sat silent and waited for more information. Kevin put up three fingers out of sight from the asari and tapped the emblem on Ralik's hardsuit to point out what it was he was referring to. Lastly, he flicked a thumb towards the back of the cab to indicate where they were. Something needed to be done now, or they would end up in another ambush scene.

Kevin reached forward on either side of the asari's head and grabbed, quickly twisting the head to the right further than it was meant to. A stomach lurching snap caused Ralik to recoil a bit and the asari fell limp instantly.

"Oh my. . . Kevin, what are you doing? Hopefully something other than committing murder!"

"Ralik, take the wheel!" Kevin shouted.

"What? But I..."

"Just do it before we're embedded into a skyscraper! That asari is with the Eclipse, she was going to bring us to an ambush location."

"W-What?" Ralik was both surprised and annoyed at the same time. "So much for being discreet, Kevin."

Kevin pulled the asari deadweight from her driver's seat on the right side to the front passenger seat on the left side to make room for Ralik. The salarian promptly hopped into the driver's seat and kept the car steady within the travel lane. Having dealt with these Eclipse before, Kevin tuned the comm device from the channel for the cab company to the one that the Eclipse tended to use during operations. Suddenly, there was a lot more noise.

_"The car swerved, should we move?"_ A human male's voice asked.

_"Not yet, we'd rather they were brought to the preset destination first. You don't want every traffic cop on your rear." _Female. Probably asari.

"Alright, then this will get their attention," Kevin said smugly while hoisting up the dead asari's body. "Ralik, open this door."

"You're insane."

"Just watch me work and keep the car steady." He pointed to Ralik and clicked his tongue twice. Sure it was confident, maybe even arrogant, but he wasn't the type to simply get cocky without reason.

When the left side door opened up he quickly threw the asari out, not even caring what was below. There was a good chance the falling body hit another car, maybe even someone walking below. Either way, it had the intended effect as confirmed by the chatter on the comm channel.

_"Good lord, did you see that? E-base, we have a situation. The ambush cab has been compromised! Repeat, the ambush cab is now under the control of that freakin' assassin and that salarian!" _

_"Switch to the secure channel of thirty-four point eighteen, and unscramble with cipher algorithm nexus five! That wannabe assassin knows our channels, we don't want him listening in!"_ From the way it sounded, the female seemed to be the one running the operation.

"Unfortunately for them, I know just where to listen now." Kevin input the new channel and unscrambling cipher with a few beeps on the comm device and their unobstructed listening had resumed. Curses flew on the new secured channel, followed by some metaphorically pointed fingers and then the order was given by the woman in charge.

_"All ambush units, move in on that car! Take that son of a- (static)- down!"_

It was then that Kevin grasped the exposed frame of the car on the rear side of where the door would normally be and he leaned out, pistol aiming right for the lead car. Three shots in controlled, rapid succession, aimed at the heads of the driver and passengers. The car swerved violently, but regained control at the lead of the three. It didn't look like any bullets penetrated.

"Tch. Reinforced windshield," Kevin spat, disappointed that his shots didn't connect. "Their cabs are a bit more modified than I thought." _I'll just need a different spot to shoot, _he thought.

_"Holy... We're taking fire! We're taking fire! Return fire immediately!"_

_"No big guns," _the woman shouted,_ "We want to keep the commotion down for now!"_

"Uh, Kevin," Ralik called, trying to get his attention, "How about taking a seat. I'm about to employ some evasive maneuvers."

"You won't have to. If they have reinforced plating and glass, then that means we do too. This is an Eclipse's cab, remember."

"Nevertheless, I'd rather _not_ test that theory of yours! Hang on!"

The whine of their car increased in pitch as they gained speed. A lot of the other cars around them seemed pretty oblivious to their situation, at least until they passed them. At that point, the other cars dispersed away from the four speeding vehicles in order to avoid any collusion. Kevin was sure by then that at least _someone_ had reported them as rogue vehicles causing trouble in the travel lanes. For now, however, that was the least of their worries. The doors on the three following cars opened up on the side and armored Eclipse members stepped to look out towards Kevin and Ralik in a similar fashion to the way Kevin hung on the frame looking back at them. The two mercenaries in the rear pulled out pistols, and the one in the leading car raised what appeared to be a basic assault rifle.

"Here comes the first volley, Ralik!" Kevin yelled, gripped the frame tight and ducking in, expecting a sudden change in direction.

"Understood, braking low!" Ralik informed as he slammed on the cab's brakes and tipped the wheel forward.

The car's pitch died rather fast and they slowed down almost fast enough to make Kevin lose his tightened grip on the frame. Bullets whizzed by and clanked off of the backside cab for a second or two until their altitude dropped sharply so that the pursuers flew overhead. This gave Kevin an excellent opportunity. When the mercs passed overhead far enough so that his line of sight wasn't obstructed by the opened door, he carefully took aim with his pistol.

_"Targets broke low and are now behind! Fire, fire!"_ The man making these calls was beginning to sound more and more irritated with each passing minute.

_ Plink Clang Clang_

Three shots at the vulnerable underbelly of engine of the lead car. He was hoping to disable their mass effected propulsion. It worked. The car he shot began to dive sharply towards the ground.

_"Mayday, we're hit! Our mass effect field is offline and we're going down!"_

_"Nice shot, bloody-"_ A third voice, far more calm than the first male one.

_"Stop screwing around out there! I'm sending you two more cabs with heavier munitions! You have authorization to use something with more punch! Remember, they are also in one of our modded cabs!"_

"Kevin, they're sending two more after us with bigger guns. Also, it sounds like our current friends are bringing out bigger guns as well."

_"Yeah yeah keep your panties on, Kera. We'll get it done while these kids play cops and robbers."_ Another new voice, a male human with deeper tone than the first and second. Probably from one of the new cars.

"Heftier potshots, huh?" Kevin twirled his pistol around his index finger. "I guess I can take that bet. See if you can get us behind them. I have another idea."

"I hope that this car is as resistant as you say, Kevin." Ralik pressed down on the accelerator and pulled back on the steering wheel. The cab began to whine again as they picked up speed and attempted to maneuver around a few innocent drivers to get behind the mercs. More shots hit their cab from up front, putting obscuring white spots all over the windows. What missed them likely hit another car. Traffic wasn't exactly light around here.

_"They're behind us. Shoot em down with the missiles!"_

"Missiles? Here?" Kevin wondered aloud as he started gathering dark energy.

His left hand began to practically shimmer with distorted light. Holding then onto the frontward frame with his right hand, he threw out a concentrated biotic throw to the left of the leftmost vehicle and caused it to curved right in order to hit the cab on the rear end broadside since the left door was still open.

Fortunately, Kevin's many training hours spent simply honing his aim paid off. The biotic force hit the merc car's backside and thrust their rear end into the other merc vehicle. There was a fantastic shower of sparks and several jumbled yells on the comm device. The whine of their vehicles had both become unstable noticeable by the fluctuating whine of the engines and they began to make a shaky decent towards the planet surface.

_"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiii-"_

_"Augh! Morons, what are you doing? We've lost mass effect field integrity! We're losing altitude!"_

_"Can't you boys do anything right? You're starting to piss me off!"_ The boss apparently wasn't used to losing.

"You're a biotic, Kevin? Excellent! Not to mention your aim is frighteningly accurate." Ralik spoke even faster than before, likely caught up in the intensity of the moment.

"Way too much practice, Ralik. You know where the hangar is, right?" He took this brief quiet moment to sit down in the passenger seat.

"...Not exactly. In addition, I believe it will be difficult to board our ship with a myriad of police officers swarming the hangar."

"What?" Kevin looked back and noticed at least five police cruisers chasing them down. "Ah crap. Well, we'll just have to be fast."

_"Do you have a sight on their cab yet?"_

_ "No, too many freakin police in the way. Don't worry though, I'll fix that right quick." _It sounded like the new mercs were close.

"Uh, Ralik. Watch out for stray shots," Kevin instructed. He continued to watch behind them, wondering just to what extremes Eclipse would go to to take him and the salarian out.

Suddenly, the police cruiser formation scattered after two of center-most cruisers erupted in explosions. The ones that didn't get damage enough to lose altitude broke off and headed down a different direction. All of the civilians in non-automated vehicles in the area took off in a frenzied wave.

_"Hahaaaa! Run, cowards! Oh hey. There they are."_ The last statement seemed as if the speaker knew where Kevin and Ralik were the whole time.

"Well, that takes care of that..." Kevin mentioned as he got up and returned to his post at the open door gripping the frame. "The hangar is over there, Ralik. See the building with the bubble-like round roof?"

"A popular architectural choice by both humans and asari as of late. Peculiar. I don't see the appeal," Ralik casually added with a nod and a slight change in direction.

Kevin leaned back outside to look back to see only two cars following them in the entire lane. His short hair danced about frantically in the high winds and a good deal of sound was drowned out by the white noise of the wind passing over his ears. He once again pulled out his pistol and he aimed down the sight, looking for something to take a clear shot at.

"There's our friends. Keep the car as steady as you can, Ralik. I'm going to attempt a very precise shot."

"No guarantees once the explosives start flying, but until then, I will do my best."

_"Alright boys, lets light em up," _the deep voiced male crackled over the comms device.

_"We're dropping low,"_ a second voice stated, presumably in the second car.

The doors on both cars opened up in a similar fashion to Kevin and Ralik's, but only one stayed at the same altitude as them. Kevin reasoned that it was likely the second car dropped so that they wouldn't be caught in any explosions. As the car at the same altitude closed in, a human wielding a missile launcher stepped out into view. His stance was confident and sturdy, hardly being affected at all by the wind from their high-speed chase. Kevin had two choices here – shoot the merc in the head and hope his shields weren't strong, or shoot the missile he's about to launch since the tip was exposed. The destructive capacity of the latter was greater, more practical and less likely to fail barring Kevin's aim, so the decision wasn't hard.

He aimed down his sight with a steady hand, focusing on the tip of the missile as the merc heaved it up and got ready to fire. Tension rose as the need for this shot to connect was absolutely critical. He took into account the wind from their current speed, and the distance at which his target kept at. He heard no beeps, but he saw the three lights on the side of the launcher begin to light up in succession. He only got one shot, maybe two shots before the projectile would be too difficult to track. He felt his head warm as the synapses fired at higher and higher speeds above normal, causing his perception of everything to slow down and his senses to heighten incredibly. One split second adjustment due to a small wind variance was made before he unreluctantly pulled the trigger.

In his head, he could hear himself analyzing the situation as it happened.

_The gun fires. Recoil is minimal. I see the projectile leave the front of the pistol, distorting the light of Tasale as it travels beyond my ability to track it. The last and final light on the launcher __illuminates and the missile is armed. The launch process begins, with small wisps of smoke exiting the side of the launcher opposite the user. Suddenly, the entire area is engulfed in ever expanding fire and noise. A husk of a cab starts to fall towards the surface, smoking and empty. Amidst the white noise and diminishing shockwave, I hear another missile launch. The second car!_

Kevin's head quickly snapped in the direction of the other mercenary vehicle below them while instinctively gathering dark energy to himself, only in time to catch the puff of smoke from the launch falling away from the device. He knew he only had a couple seconds at best to do something before they would be partaking in the fate of the first car. Without enough time gather enough dark energy to deter the missile's direction with a curved throw, he released a straight on curtain of a biotic push at the projectile in a last and only ditch effort to keep from becoming a flaming pile of falling meat.

Unfortunately, the biotic wave was enough to detonate the warhead outright, causing it to explode just under a meter away from the back end of the cab.

The deafening explosion rocked their car immensely and shook Kevin from his 'heightened' state. He was thrown off of his feet and his back smashed against the ceiling of the cab before he came back down half onto the passenger chair and half on the floor.

He grunted loudly at the impact and his eyes rolled. Desperately, he forced his vision back into focus and mentally worked to bring his battered senses in order. Finally, he could barely hear the fuzzy and frantic voice of his salarian pilot shouting at him.

"Kevin, we're going down! I have minimal control of what propulsion we have! Just enough to fall forward rather than straight down!"

"Aim..." He coughed hard, feeling his lungs lurch in strained bursts. "Aim for the hangar..."

He steadied himself and attempted to at least get up on the chair. Numerous warning beeps and sounds were blaring out of the dashboard. It was pretty apparent that the damage was catastrophic. He looked up towards the back seat and realized that there wasn't one. The passenger side of the back of the car was taken by the explosion, and only a portion of the engine remained. Other than that, all there was to see was smoke, a couple withering flames and the scenic horizon of Illium. He flipped over and pushed himself to sit upright so he could sit properly and look at where we were heading. So far, Ralik was was right on target. The base of the building where his ship was docked was coming up, fast. His eyes widened, and he hoped this reinforced hull and glass would hold up against the impact, though after seeing what one explosion did to it, his hopes were fragile.

"Impact in five seconds, brace yourself!" Ralik did likewise by locking his arms at full length, pressing away from the steering wheel and into the seat.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap crap crap crap!" The closer they got to the building, the more Kevin's eyes widened and the more he backed into his seat as well.

They tore into the side of the building like an armor piercing bullet hitting sheet metal. They had hit a window, and the glass – along with their own windows – shattered violently. When they hit the floor of the level they tore into, it didn't hold and it gave out underneath them instantly from the impact as they continued their fiery and destructive decent inside the skyscraper. As luck would have it, the floor they next fell into was just outside the hangar. This floor thankfully did not give out, and Kevin and Ralik felt the jarring impact in full. The mass effect barriers designed to prevent personal injury inside the cab had since failed, and the two passengers bounced about before the spectacular crash toned down to simply a human and a salarian in a flaming cab sliding across a floor outside the hangar. The cab and the floor screeched sharply as the metal surfaces ground against each other and sent sparks and smoke in every direction. They finally came to a jolting stop when they smacked into a thick support pillar in the middle of the hallway. Ralik was the first to say anything.

"O-Ow."

"Auuugh." Kevin was face down and had to roll over again to look around. Things were spinning. "Hey Ralik. . . Anything. . . Broken?"

"I... I don't think so, but I certainly hurt. Everywhere. I'm not fond of crashing. Remind me never to take joy rides with you _ever again_."

Kevin let out a hearty, yet suppressed, chuckle.

"Ow ow ow, don't make me laugh. Ow. Come on. This place will be covered in police, media and disaster aid groups in a matter of minutes," Kevin stated matter-of-factly while shakily trying to get out of the charred remains of their cab.

"Right. . . Let me just. . . Figure out how to move my limbs again."

As Kevin finally got upright and his hearing began to return to him, he heard the intermittent crackle of static mixed with cut off voices. Somehow, the comms device was still working.

_"Got-(static) Down into-(static) building-(static) A goner!"_ It was the same deep-toned voice from before.

_"Good. Now get-(static) base before the-(static) finds out you shot that son of-(static)"_

Kevin frowned as much as his bruising face would allow. Normally he would opt to let them believe he was dead, effectively getting them off of his backside for a while. However, he knew they would figure it out once they saw his ship leaving the hangar amidst a crisis. This time though, he had to make it clear to them that he could not be killed that easily. The apprehension they might face as a result was worth it, especially since it would point out to them that he had access to their secure channel. He grabbed the miraculously functional communication device and check to make sure it was still tuned to their secure channel. He activated the receiver and pulled it right up to his mouth.

"You missed," was his short and triumphant reply. Satisfied, he then threw the comm device against what was left of the dashboard so he wouldn't have to listen to an attempt at a counter. This time it was definitely broken.

Ralik coughed heavily from the smoke, but he was able to get up and stagger his way over to the wall closest to the hangar. He held his right arm close to him, as if it might have been badly injured. As for Kevin, he was able to get up, but things were still blurry and the room swirled. As much as his body told him not to, he knew he had to get moving. A deep breath, another hushed exclamation of pain and several wobbly steps later, he was on the same wall as Ralik. Together, they hobbled their way to the door of the hanger. Luckily, it still opened despite taking a nasty hit from debris. They could hear the sounds of police cruisers and emergency response teams approaching the building, so their pace increased despite being strained as is.

Inside the outer hull door of the airlock, the decontamination process began. Just like the first time, it was short and sweet; it was less than a minute before they were inside.

"Ralik, can you fly a ship?" Kevin asked as he limped inside.

"Not one of this size, I'm afraid."

"Dangit. Alright, I guess I'll take the helm then."

"Alert: Unrecognized life form has boarded the ship," Terra's calm voice chimed.

"Shut up, Terra, he's allowed," Kevin stated, irritated. "No more alerts about unrecognized individuals."

"Acknowledged. Salarian DNA profile has been registered. Future profile registration will be automatic and will continue without alert. Please designate a name for this profile."

"Ralik Dolannus," Ralik added.

"Acknowledged."

"That's a rather vocal VI," Ralik bluntly stated. Still, he looked intrigued.

"Not my choice. It was already built in when I got the ship. Terra, get the ship ready for lift-off."

"Acknowledged. Prepping engines."

As Kevin sat down in the frontmost cockpit chair, he peered out the lower viewports to see Illium police and an asari SWAT-style response commando enter the room. They obviously heard his engines warming up and someone had ordered an instant lockdown. The large disc magnets that held the ship in place while docked refused to detach from the ship.

"Crap, they're trying to lock us down," Kevin audibly noted, wincing from his quick taps on the haptic interface. "We're getting out of here either way. Terra, regard all external access attempts as hostile."

"Acknowledged. Five attempts have been blocked thus far."

"Take a seat, Ralik. This might get a little bumpy." As soon as Ralik stepped into the slightly cramped cockpit, Kevin started a full reverse. Ralik saw his attempted move and sat down immediately, still holding onto his arm.

"I would advise against that. The docking-" The salarian's advice was cut short.

The Kellius kicked backwards and started out of the hangar rather quick. Looking into the spot they were just in, it was obvious that the magnets still had not detached. The arms that normally held the ship via magnet discs were still in position, if now considerably shorter and lacking those very discs altogether. The ends sparked and flashed before the arms retracted in a strained and broken stutter. Below the ship, the four now unpowered discs fell to the floor of the hangar with several noisy clangs. Still in reverse and moving too fast for his comfort level, Kevin employed an all stop and attempted to plot a way out of the dense forest of towering structures. Satisfied with a course, he punched on the thrusters before any more attempts to lock the ship down were attempted.

It was just about to hit dusk here, and the fabled Illium evening vista was as striking as everyone said it was. In all the times Kevin had been to this planet, he had never had the chance to actually get a look at the dimming evening horizon. Most of his contracts were mid day or deep night operations. Silhouettes of tall skyscrapers blotted out lines of shrinking sunlight, while others more to the side reflected it. Lights of all colors were becoming more and more visible across the entire surface of the planet, signaling the start of the night life. The beautiful view was fleeting, though, as it only took but a minute to rise above the point where it was a sweeping vista. Soon the legendary sight turned into a typical orbital planet view – which was nice in its own right but didn't hold the same level of awe. Kevin had his last view of Illium and now it is time to go.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

"What are you staring at?" Ralik asked as he leaned forward to peer out the viewports, curious as to what Kevin appeared to zoned into.

"What? Oh. Nothing. It was just my first and probably last chance to get to see that famous Illium evening view," he said in a manner more solemn than what Ralik had seen thus far.

"Ah, yes. I can understand. I have seen it many times myself. Always breathtaking. I don't suppose I'll be coming back here anytime soon either. The Eclipse do not forget grudges very easily. Too many asari in their ranks for such offenses to slip the mind over the years."

"I can definitely attest to that. Hey, were you ever able to get that shield design data to the police?"

Ralik looked confused for a moment before lifting a battered left arm, resorting to his omni-tool. The silence was slightly awkward, the would-be tension released only by the short beeps from his browsing the data. After a few seconds, Ralik simply looked up to Kevin and lifted his shoulders with a smile.

"Oops."

"Haha. Well, at least we have some nice shield technology in our hands. Maybe we can sell it for a nice profit or develop it ourselves."

The salarian brought a three-fingered hand to his face in thought.

"Hmm. The challenge in integrating this technology with our hardsuits would be substantial without a proper lab. I like it. I'll dabble with it every now and then and see what I can come up with."

"In the meantime, is there any particular place you want to head to right now? I don't really have a direction from here yet."

"Could. . ." He paused, considering his request. "Could we head to the Citadel? I should probably tell my brother what's going on. That's where I was heading before you interrupted, after all."

"That's as good a destination as any right about now. Terra, plot a course for the Citadel."

"Acknowledged. Course plotted. Engaging FTL drive." Kevin was thankful that Terra was short and to the point when she needed to be.

"Say, why do you call the VI 'Terra', anyways?" Ralik asked as he rubbed his hurt arm.

"Because it's easier than saying 'Technologically Extended and Revised Assistant.' That's why."

"But what does that mean? It's more than just a VI?"

Time for Kevin to dump what he learned.

"Sort of. It's more than a VI in the fact that it does more than simply interface with us. It has some control over the Kellius, albeit limited. For example. It has an autopilot program that follows shipping lanes to whatever the designated destination is. It's not perfect, but it gets the ship from point A to point B without a pilot."

"Intriguing. Limited how, though?"

"I asked the same thing. For instance: you can 'set it and forget it' when going from planet to planet, but you can't use it for combat maneuvering or exploring. It only works on a set of preinstalled data. So basically it'll just find the straightest line to a destination, that straightest line being shipping lanes. And since shipping lanes include mass relays, it includes them in course plotting."

"Fascinating. Advanced VI, but not quite advanced enough to be considered AI in any fundamental aspect. Sounds like it would always be preferable to have a pilot at the controls, however."

"Pretty much. Thing is, neither of us are real pilots, so I'm just making due. At least this way we can go do other things and not be tied to the cockpit—er _Bridge_. Such as. . . You know. . . Tend our wounds. There's a med bay towards the aft, we should get ourselves some first aid."

"Yes. . . Yes I would like to get that taken care of right away," Ralik's agreement was couple a quick wipe at his face, removing some slowly trickling blood away from his left eye.

Ralik and Kevin cautiously limped their way back to the medical bay of the ship, using each other as support. Both had injuries, but few of them actually drew blood. The injuries they suffered from were more the type to leave really bad bruises, though Kevin did have a trickle of blood flowing from an abrasion on his head, and Ralik suffered a blood leak on the arm he held close to himself earlier in addition to the small bit on his face. Considering what they had just gone through, such minor injuries – while not unheard of – were nothing short of miraculous.

Inside the med bay, three beds were arrayed jutting off the far side wall. Only two of them were close enough to the automated care systems to take advantage of said systems, but that didn't really matter to Kevin. He was content to simply apply some measured amounts of medi-gel to reduce inflammation and steadily heal his wounds. He never liked the idea of a machine being in charge of his well being. At least not while he was conscious. It was a good thing for him that the med bay was suitably stocked with ample medigel and other 'manual' means of care. Once he finished caring for his wounds, he handed Ralik a package of medigel. He accepted after a brief moment, as he was still cleaning his few open wounds.

"Ralik, you never told me how you came to have all this infiltration, recon and data mining skills. Now is as good a time as any, right?" Kevin moved over to the third unmonitored bed and sat on it. It was high enough that even his fully grown man-legs couldn't reach the floor without sitting on the very edge, so he let his feet dangle.

"Yes yes, I suppose a bit of an explanation is in order. It is only natural, seeing as how we are now both crew mates. Likewise, I expect a similar story on how you honed your biotics and pistol aim." A few more dabs at his wounds with the medigel and the soothing nature fell over any injuries within seconds. Now more relaxed, Ralik continued.

"I spent a some time in the salarian Special Tasks Group."

"The STG. I should have known."

Ralik nodded once. "I found their operations most fascinating, and I found myself desiring their admirable skills and determination. I spent two years training under their guidance, specializing in reconnaissance and field study. Hmm, I suppose you could think of me as a combat-ready researcher." As always and like all salarians, he spoke undeniably fast. Fast, but clear and comprehendable.

"So if you were with the STG, why did you leave?"

The large black pupils surrounded by the deep green of Ralik's eyes fell to the floor, but only for a moment. A hesitation, likely meaning he wasn't proud about what he was about to say.

"I was. . . Honorably removed." He tapped his fingers together in a bit of nervousness. "Allow me to explain."

"I haven't made judgments, Ralik. Just tell me your story." Kevin was never exactly good at being empathetic.

"Right. Of course. You see, I have a rare mental condition, conveniently and casually explained by doctors as a 'chronic chemical abnormality'. Essentially, when other salarians can mentally prepare themselves and get things done ahead of time, as is the norm, I cannot. I. . ." He let out a quick sigh, finally giving in to finishing the explanation. "I hesitate. Not just a normal split second hesitation. It takes me far more time than almost any salarian to be prepared to do what needs to be done. Once I am in the situation I can function as normal as any other, but the problem for me comes before the action starts or is taken."

"That's it?" Kevin stared at Ralik with more or less a look of disbelief. "That's why you were discharged from the STG? You're yanking me. Everybody hesitates."

"You clearly do not understand the rudimentary fundamentals of the Special Tasks Group, Kevin. We- _They_ specialize in taking care of situations long before they arise or escalate." Ralik began to pace as he fervently explained. "They work without hesitation, taking care of special tasks long before the enemy even knows how to retaliate or defend themselves. It is because I take so long to get into the mental state of readiness to execute the plans set down that I was discharged. Taking care of business once everything has started is easy, I have no issues there. My problem is getting started, and that simply will not fit into the STG's agenda."

"I think I get it now. But wait, you didn't have any issue back on Illium," Kevin argued, thinking back to the car chase.

"Are you referring to the car chase or my infiltration of the Eclipse base?" Ralik inquired.

"Well, both," casually stated as he leaned back on the bed.

"The Eclipse infiltration took me several weeks to prepare for. About one quarter of the time spent preparing was actual planning, information gathering, so on and so forth. The rest was. . . Mental preparation. As for the car incident, I hardly had time to hesitate. Before I knew it, our cab driver was dead and you were shouting at me to take the controls. I was _already_ in the situation."

"I see. Alright, I get it." It was now clear to Kevin why Ralik was discharged and why for a salarian this could pose an issue. For a race that only lives for and average of forty years, any moment of uncontrolled hesitation is seen as a disability. Time to them was extremely precious, and hesitation was wasted time.

"Your turn, Kevin." Ralik sat back down on the bed with another sigh. This sigh was different from the others, however. It was more a sigh of relief, having gotten something so potentially embarrassing off of his shoulders.

"Alright," Kevin started, "where to begin. I suppose I could start with my biotics. The details about that are sketchy at best, I can hardly remember my younger days and I haven't plugged in my data storage yet."

"Data storage?"

"I'll get to that as I explain."

Kevin began to explain his brief background to the salarian starting with his biotics, at least as much as he could actively remember. He explained that even as a kid, his learning curve with biotics in comparison to other children was different. It ascended more sharply than with other kids. He was learning how to control his biotics faster than the others, and he ended up having 'special' attendants because of it. He vaguely remembered being placed in quarters in a different area of some facility, away from the other kids. He wasn't isolated, however. Kevin attended classes the same as anyone else, was treated the same as anyone else and interacted the same as anyone else. He never actually discovered why he was separated while he was there.

He was only at the facility for a couple more years, until he was about fourteen. That's when he felt his first major headache – the kind that put him on the floor. He didn't even realize there were three attendants in his room until after the initial wave of pain was finished. It was at that point that his parents, who had been inexplicably – at least to him – absent for the past several years decided to make a visit. He wasn't allowed into the room his parents were talking to the staff in, but there were raised voices. Eventually, the day ended with him packing his things and being taken off of the facility by his parents. It was only after he left that he was told that there were five other kids specifically separated like he was, but on different floors. He and his attendants in the years past had been noticing a slight bit of memory loss during Kevin's day to day. As a going away gift, Kevin's attendant had given him a flash data device with a couple petabytes worth of space on it in order for him to keep track of his own daily activities.

Kevin's life with his parents, while he didn't bother to detail this to Ralik, was a tough moment in his life. He had just started his teenage years with a mixed education of biotic ability, biotic society, and a plethora of typical academic studies. He was an only child, and as such his parents were having an increasingly difficult time adjusting to having a son in the house. It was clear they weren't used to being parents. They made him take memory enhancing supplements to counter his occasional memory loss. Academic wise, Kevin proceeded to attend non-biotic classes at a high school back on Earth. He finished his classes there on the honor roll with scholarships in hand, ready to move on to post-graduate education.

Kevin didn't want to attend more classes, however. He was more interested in life outside the colonies and the Local Cluster. At eighteen, he enrolled in the Alliance military. The training he took there lasted almost an entire year. After that, since he was listed as a biotic, he followed up into a brand new first-year military biotic training regimen for another year. This is where his past quick learning experiences with biotics paid off. By then, he was considered a natural at biotics. His skills weren't anything like they are now, but compared to the other biotics undergoing military training, he was listed as 'exceptional'. Kevin was old enough by this time to realize that this was due to the fact that he learned quicker than his peers at such a young age and not because he was necessarily better at biotics than anyone.

There was also concern. The other biotics had 'readings' taken every so many days. They all acted as if having a needled stabbed into the back of the head was a normal, typical thing that they all had come to expect was part of biotic life. Kevin didn't ever remember having a needle stuck into the back of his head to take readings. Not once. For the first time, Kevin began to wonder if there was something wrong with him.

Nevertheless, Kevin performed well in the training. About two months into the new training regimen, five more biotics were flown in from off-world: three female and two male. All of them were around his age, and had taken some previous form of biotic training like he had. One of them had even become his first real best friend since high school. His name was Xavier Toreles, and they shared the remaining time of the biotic training together as squadmates. Even outside training they were inseparable.

The training was tough. Their instructor was stone cold and was as rigid as they come. The results _had_ to be better than expected since this was essentially the Alliance Military's trial run with this newly developed regimen, so they put extra effort into making each of them the best biotic they could be. They were taught new biotic skills, like the ability to change the direction of certain biotic skills mid-use using dark energy to repulse the fields they were creating. They called this technique 'curving', and it was most noticeable with a biotic throw or pull when direction meant everything. Other advanced and experimental techniques were gaining popularity through this regimen as well, like enveloping oneself in a mass effect field to make movement extremely fast and effortless. The more powerful biotics could produce waves of dark energy that had such force behind them that they were likened to a fully loaded freight train. And then there was the well known grand-daddy of biotics: The Singularity. A point in space where a powerful mass effect was generated to create near infinite mass. Such a feat was exhausting and dangerous, both to the one creating the singularity as well as the people in the general area.

Some biotics experienced a temporary amplifier shutdown after creating or attempting to create these spectacles of sheer biotic control, which usually resulted in instant mental exhaustion and, subsequently, a blackout. Their biotic amps were wired to automatically disable themselves if it was detected that there was either too much stress on the brain or nervous system, or if the amps were being overused. These safety protocols were regularly adjusted over the life of a biotic to match their body's specific tendencies and to greatly reduce the chance of this happening, but even then they were still prone to the rare temporary shutdown if they pushed themselves too far. Biotics were still considered rare among the human race and every one was precious. Safety features were an integral step in keeping biotics from accidental dark energy suicide.

After the announced success of the regimen, it was made standard for all military biotics, and the training was also adopted by tutors as well. Soon after the final ceremony, Kevin and the five biotics flown in from off-world were pulled aside and contacted by an unknown figure, claiming to be a spec ops military branch in need of extremely skilled biotics. The statement from the male was clear: they were now working for him. This extremely vague turn of events obviously didn't sit well with most of the six, though a couple were intrigued. Two agreed and the remaining declined to oblige. Those that turned the figure down were surprisingly let off without any hassle. After that, everyone in the program went their separate ways, most off to varying starships to serve with the Alliance Fleet. Kevin and Xavier also went in different directions, though they kept in touch.

Kevin only served with the Alliance for another year. He decided to leave after a nasty turn of events which he decided not to recall for Ralik. Following this, he moved from Terminus System to Terminus System, freelancing as a gun for hire. He picked up his title of 'assassin' when he found that a number of his deals to kill people fell upon moderately high value individuals. From batarian company CEOs to volus trademasters. Some of the people he was hired to take out were very, very specific people whose details were intelligently withheld from the ex-STG member. This is about where Kevin decided to leave off. There was a three minute silence before Ralik got up and stretched.

"Sorry, Ralik," Kevin apologized, "Didn't mean to give you the long version. Just been a while since I've had a chance to recap my winding past, I guess."

"No worries, Kevin. This gives me helpful insight into your past with which I can now exploit for my personal gain."

Kevin let out a dry, false laugh. "That's not even funny. I _know_ you know how to be dangerous with information."

"And yet you pour it out almost without restraint! Some key elements were left out, but I certainly have enough information now to-"

Kevin suddenly cut Ralik short by grabbing his pistol from his waist and held it pointed at the salarian before it had even finished unfolding. "Looks like I slipped up," he muttered with dire seriousness. "Gotta kill you now."

Ralik's first reaction was surprise and alarm, coupled with a sudden readiness to react quickly and violently – a product of STG training. That split second of emotion fell away as soon as he noticed a fatal flaw in Kevin's form.

"The safety's on," Ralik calmly stated with a small point to the error.

Kevin's convincing guise fell away as he lowered the gun with a smile. "Yeah, I know. Had you going for a second there, though." The pistol collapsed and was once again returned to the holster on his waist.

"I wouldn't try that again. Never know what an ex-STG will do, yes?" Ralik waved one of three fingers of his right hand at the human in light-hearted chastisement.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Anyways, now that we've exchanged friendly threats and shared our life stories, why not grab a bite to eat? I don't know what's in the mess as far as salarian cuisine, but I'm sure something can be worked out. Plus if we have time I can give you a brief tour of the ship. A quick low-dose injection of medi-gel will take care of internal injuries in a snap."

Ralik nodded before looking up to the ceiling. "Terra, please confirm the remaining time until we reach the Citadel."

A slight chime sounded before Terra's synthetic voice gave Ralik his answer. "Approximately two hours until we arrive at the Citadel, Ralik."

"Thank you," Ralik quickly countered.

"Did you just thank a VI?" Kevin asked, humorously astounded.

"It doesn't hurt to show a little manners, even in the presence of a program," the salarian mocked. "Does it, Mr. Folner?"

"Geez. I swear, if you start having conversations with it, I'm pulling the plug," Kevin added while shaking his head before giving himself a quick injection and heading for the door to make his way out of the med bay.

"I do look forward to exploring the depth of Terra's interface programming," Ralik said, continuing to play Kevin as he followed him out.

"Okay, even from a salarian that's just wrong."

After the short meal consisting of rations and a tour of the ship, Ralik decided to resign to the engine room for the time being. He mentioned not having a chance to investigate a Tantalus dive core in person and wanted some time to observe its systems before they docked at the Citadel. Kevin decided to retreat to the oxymoronic confines of his quarters at the aft of the ship. He had plugged his flash device into the terminal on the desk in the back of the room, as he wanted to upload some of his data to the ship for easier access. Among the eighty-five terabytes worth of data being uploaded, he picked out a few files that he flagged as important. The comment for the files that he had placed on it read: 'These files contain info about my origins, reference these when the memories lock out again.'

The files were a small mix of log entries, data recordings and a few cipher locked notes that he had tried to break, but was thus far incapable. The first log was an audio recording. The video that went with the recordings had gotten corrupted at some point during the transfer when he obtained it, but the audio was entirely salvageable. Tilting his head, Kevin played the log over the master quarters sound emitters.

"Log six." A man with a mid toned voice and slight accent of Irish decent spoke. "Time reference – only days away from the expected births of the test subjects. The road has been long, and the cost. . . Unthinkable. Of the thirty-five original hosts, only eight have progressed through the dangerous initial exposure and subsequent consequences and still remain considerably healthy. The twenty-seven others died in stillbirth from a staggering variety of mutations and health problems. The mothers of those that died either suffered irreversible genetic damage or died within the month. The staff of the project remains optimistic, however. The additional genetic modifications made to these subjects should make the individuals viable after birth. Unfortunately, the chance of critical system failure within each individual will remain high until their third year, at which point the chances of them seeing a full life increases by an estimated forty percent. At least by then, their systems should completely adapt to the element zero deposits. How their nervous system handles these increased size deposits will be a top study priority. McRoilie out."

Kevin furrowed his brows. He knew that he had heard this report before, but he couldn't actually recall any of it, or how many times he had heard it before. There was a text document included in the files that had no significant title, but when opened it read: _Number of times these logs have been looked at (Increase by 1 each time you review these files): 23_. Kevin upped the number to twenty-four and closed the otherwise blank text document, continuing onto the next audio file.

"Log eight. Time reference – three months following the births of the project individuals. We were fortunate enough that the mothers of all eight subjects survived thus far. Unfortunately, two of the subjects had died only a week after birth. What we believe to be the cause was our own fault. The cause of death in those two subjects was internal brain damage and scarring. It seems some of the additional genetic code we had deployed did not develop properly in the fetus, and the brain was damaged extensively by the enhanced neurological state of the body.

"Moving back to the more positive part of my report, the surviving subjects have been given names by their mothers, which they will carry with them even outside this facility once the introductory phase has completed. The six remaining subjects so far seem medically healthy, aside from excessive crying. We believe this to be a side effect from the modifications as their brain continues to adapt to the increase in neurological intensity. I and the rest of the team look forward to the next several years of research. McRoilie out."

Kevin sat back after the log finished and interlaced the fingers of his hands together behind his head. If there was one thing he didn't like about these logs, it was the fact that not a single one of them had any documented or mentioned date. Every log and data entry 'date' was a time reference relative to other entries, which made figuring out the full scale timeline downright frustrating. He looked at his clock and realized he only had time to listen to one more audio log before they were within the Serpent Nebula and only minutes away from the Citadel. Leaning forward, he played a log towards the end of the audio entries.

"Log ninety-two. Time reference – day omega. Today is the final day that the children will be at our facility. From here, they will be given a measured dose of amnesiac meds in order to prevent any of the kids from mentioning this place or any of our staff – including the mothers. It is currently not known how this drug will affect their minds upon maturity, though we fully expect that the side effects, if any, will be absolutely minimal. Once the kids have been given the drugs and put to sleep, they will then be moved to the Alliance military and civilian joint effort called the Ascension Project. There they will continue to be monitored by a very select and careful staff, handpicked to assist with these particular individuals.

"I. . . I am sad to see them go. Many of the staff, myself included, have grown somewhat attached to the children. We were warned about this attachment, but we know better to keep it in check. At the most, some tears will be shed at the conclusion of this project. The mothers will remain here on the facility for now, for final study to see what effects the eezo exposure might have had since then. We are declaring the introductory phase of this project a success. McRoilie out."

Kevin sighed, frustrated. He had looked into the Ascension Project in the past, and found that he did indeed get enrolled there as a child. This, however, was not enough to make any connection. Unfortunately, almost all the files on the children who went there were rather classified, aside from academics. He still knew nothing. He didn't have a way to get those files, either. They were kept on heavily secured servers aboard the Grissom Acadamy, which is a very different place from where he got his current information.

"Mister Folner," Terra's synthesized voice sounded, almost making him jump, "we are five minutes from the Citadel."

"Don't call me that," he replied callously.

"What would like this system to address you as?" Terra formally inquired.

"Just call me. . ." Kevin had to stop and think about it for a second. Why was it so difficult for him to get used to a VI interacting with him? It was what they were programmed to do. After a slight pause, he finally acquiesced. "Just call me Kevin."

"Very well, Kevin."

Kevin shuddered a bit. That was going to take some getting used to. It was at this point that he remembered that he still had to make some 'adjustments' to the ship registration program to keep it from automatically sending out the registration changes. He quickly browsed his password protected personal files archive and picked out a single basic program. Upon running it, a small box appeared with the words 'Scanning, please wait. . .' on it. They quickly reverted to a new box that had a lot of technical information on it.

Kevin was familiar with this area by now, the only things that tended to change among human-built ships were certain flag locations and variables. Normally this area in the system would be completely unaccessible. Ships weren't even programmed to display this information, since the only people typically qualified to do anything in this area were the engineers who built or designed the ship. Kevin was one step ahead, though. The program he ran had the code to organize and display it in a useful manner. Once the internal firewalls were decrypted and temporarily disabled via a subtle programming loophole, Kevin was free to browse the most technically complex and dangerous area of the ship's systems: the kernel and system registry. Altering the wrong thing here could lead to an immediate ship lockdown due to run-time errors generated from making stupid changes. Kevin had the simple task of changing only one boolean, though, and knew better than to mess with anything else. Once he navigated to where the boolean rested, he changed it from zero to one. This was the equivalent of 'Registry changes sent to the server', and changing the boolean to true ensured that the system _knew_ that the changes were already sent and did not need to be sent again. A classic example of an age old truth: if it is digital, it can be cracked.

Kevin cracked his knuckles and saved the changes. The program automatically altered the rollback version of the registry entry so that if the system ended up detecting the unauthorized change, the rollback version that it applied would be the very thing it hoped to remove. Satisfied that the deed was done, he closed down his program and kicked the rolling chair back.

"Terra, I'm on my way to the bridge. Have the haptics up for me."

"Acknowledged."

Kevin stood from his chair and bent over the desk to close any and all files currently open on the terminal. His data had finished uploading to the ship's storage, so he grabbed his flash storage unit and dropped it into one of his higher up pockets. He only paused for a couple more seconds to take another brief look at the terminal before turning and heading out of his room.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter Five**_

Ralik was already two steps ahead of Kevin, coming up the stairs from deck two to his left just ahead of him. He must have been alerted as well. By the time they both got to the bridge, the Citadel was already in their viewports. Kevin immediately took the foremost seat and quickly urged Ralik to sit as well.

"Might want to grab a seat, Ralik. I can't dock a frigate to save my life."

Ralik nodded and took the seat behind and to the right of Kevin's. "As long as we avoid skyscrapers, I believe we will be fine." The salarian ended the sentence with a sly smile.

"You're just _full_ of good humor today, aren't you?" Kevin asked, only slightly miffed.

"Keeping a cheerful atmosphere relieves stress on the mind, don't you think?"

"Is that your way of saying you have a coping mechanism?" Kevin chuckled.

"Perhaps. . ." Ralik's decisions of when to be stark and when to be enigmatic seemed random, if not well planned.

Kevin opened the local docking channel and hailed the traffic agents on the Citadel. "This is the Kellius, requesting permission to dock."

"Welcome back, Kellius," was the oddly lighthearted turian's reply. "Will you be staying at your private dock today?"

Kevin thought for a second. A private dock meant an expensive, well maintained area with plenty of guards around, maybe even a greeting party. Additionally, the fact that they knew the ship by name meant that Linus visited the Citadel often, and people at that private dock would be expecting _him_ to step off the ship. They did not want that kind of exposure.

"No thanks. I've got some business to do in the wards today, and I need a dock away from my usual. Got anything in the Kithoi Wards?" Kevin clenched his teeth, hoping this wouldn't be too unusual a request.

"We do. Upper Kithoi Wards, dock forty-seven. Will you need a security escort? We have several C-Sec officers standing by."

"You guys are off the hook today, I have my own escort. Thanks for the offer though. Kellius out." Kevin was about to lean back when he realized the channel had not been cut yet.

"Aren't you going to need a vector and a berth, Kellius?" The turian's cheery voice now sounded suspicious, and a tad worried.

"My pilot has it covered." Kevin clenched his teeth once more, this time coupled with a fervent look of troubled failure on his face.

"Uh. . . Alright. Have a nice stay, Kellius." Soon after, the docking channel was cut. The docking agent was too busy to deal with that any longer than he already had.

"I suppose I should have said yes," Kevin reasoned as he brought the ship around to head towards the long arm of the Citadel known as the Kithoi Wards.

"Why _didn't_ you say yes?" Ralik questioned, looking at Kevin in disbelief.

"I don't even know what a vector and a berth are. I just know basic piloting, I've never had to deal with that crap flying a shuttle."

Ralik brought an open palm to his long face and laughed. "Well, you've managed to wing it this far, let's see how you do here, yes? Also, when did you acquire a private dock? That's no small expense."

"It's a long, complicated story that I really have no desire to repeat. Again." Kevin had no idea if Ralik was going to leave once he found his brother, so there really was no need for him to reveal that the Kellius was technically stolen.

"Alright, alright," Ralik gave in, hands up in front of him. "I'll simply have to ask later."

"Is it just me, or are you actually enjoying pushing my buttons?" Kevin asked, not looking away from the screens and viewports as he descended to the location of fock forty-seven.

"I have no idea what you are referring to." A convenient dodge.

Kevin simply gave up, needing to concentrate more on docking the frigate. As the neared the dock, Kevin could clearly make out the hexagonal 'clearing' known as the famous Edroki Plaza. Kevin had a lot of memories of there from when he first visited the Citadel after leaving the Alliance. Some he wished to forget, others he cherished. An all around mix, really. He certainly planned to visit the plaza again while he was here. If his memory served, Tarsil spent a lot of time in the plaza do a myriad of things. Most of those things involved money and clandestine transactions. It wasn't black market, not really. The items that he dealt with would be flagged if they passed through C-Sec, but Tarsil knew ways around that. His clients needed to move otherwise flagged items through to people on or going through the Citadel.

As they lowered, the hustle and bustle typical of any upper wards arm could be seen coming into view, but the dock was just outside the maintained atmosphere so they would not be going all the way down. To Kevin's relief, the docks on Kithoi, or at the very least this dock was still pretty low-key, with only a typical C-Sec docking guard squad and crew. It was rather unlikely that any of them knew the Kellius. The docking procedure here was a bit easier, due to quite a bit more free space to give room for error. This didn't mean that the process was without bumps, however. Kevin's abilities ensured that. Even still, the ship was docked without any serious incident, similar to the Illium docking.

As they left the Kellius, one of the armed C-Sec guards came out to meet them. There wasn't any need for alarm, as the gun was still holstered. It was obvious the turian coming out to meet them wasn't looking for a fight or arrest.

"Bad news," the turian started. "Your ship's been flagged for investigation."

"What?" Kevin asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Apparently the law enforcement on Illium has you wanted for arrest," the officer explained.

"Figured that might come back to bite us," Ralik stated regretfully.

"It doesn't say what for, so you guys are still cleared to roam this ward. Thing is, your ship'll be locked down until an envoy from the Illium police force can get here and take a look themselves. It's out of our jurisdiction, so we won't be touching it. Don't worry, we respect people's privacy and all that. Just don't give us a reason to, hear me?"

"Dually noted, officer," Kevin assured. "Don't worry, that's all a misunderstanding and I certainly don't plan on causing trouble on the Citadel."

"See that you don't. I've got enough crap to deal with. Anyway, the Illium police force said their envoy is held up in some recent issues in Nos Astra, so it might be a couple days before they arrive. Have a nice day." The C-Sec officer then turned around to leave and headed back into the guard station.

When the officer left, Kevin and Ralik simply continued on their way towards the docking elevator that would take them to the surface of the upper wards. This particular area wasn't very busy. Most of the vehicles coming and going were part of the Rapid Transit system the Citadel used and anything bigger than that tended to be mid-sized frigates carrying supplies. There were less big name stores on this ward, so traffic wasn't as intense as, say, Zakera ward.

Just outside the guard station was a Rapid Transit terminal. Kevin activated it and chose the Rapid Transit station closest to the Edroki Plaza, where they hoped to find Tarsil. Not more than a few seconds later, a small automated shuttle quickly pulled up and opened for the users to sit inside. The following trip to the next station was quick, albeit quiet. Apparently Ralik had no ill-timed words of wisdom or button pushing wits. Once they pulled up to the destination, the shuttle opened and they both stepped out to a metallic platform overlooking the majority of the surface of Kithoi's upper wards.

The Edroki Plaza was one of the most popular areas on all of Kithoi Wards. It was a giant square of surface area on the upper wards devoid of skyscrapers and large buildings of any kind. The center most area of the square, taking up roughly half the free space is a green area. Trees, soft grass, benches and even a flowing creek are in this park-like zone, meant entirely for the enjoyment of the citizens of the Citadel. A few species of the more pleasant animals from various planets resided here, helping create a natural and serene ambiance not easily found on the static atmosphere of the grand space station.

Just outside this green zone was a cacophony of things to see. High-tech tents of traveling merchants setting up shop as close to the legal commerce border of the green zone as possible. All manner of species walking to and fro, some shopping the daily rotated wares and some enjoying personal hobbies. Various people were playing strange and alien forms of amateur sports games, others elected to show off hobbies, such as personal skills and collections. Beyond this area, known as the 'Ring of Edroki', was the outer plaza.

This area, which extended to the very outside edge of the square, was where a lot of more permanent buildings resided. These buildings were rented out on a standard galactic weekly basis to small shopkeepers looking to sell wares with a bit more chronological stability than the ones within the Ring who are in and out within one to two galactic days. This area tended to be the busiest, as the majority of the cheaper shops on the Kithoi wards were here.

Standing on a ledge next to a set of stairs heading down between tall shop buildings and to the plaza, Kevin could see the large Taralos Amphitheater building in the distance, sparkling in the ambient light of the surrounding wards and the Serpent Nebula about half-way between the plaza and the outer tip. There were a number of large, brightly colored lights orbiting the top of the structure, indicating a production was about to be experienced. A glance behind him reminded him of just how large the wards actually were. Even when overlooking the plaza and all the wards beyond that to the pointed end, he was really only about half way to the elevators linking the wards to the presidium. He could only barely make out the massive and uniquely shaped structure where the Council Central Archives were housed. Whenever Kevin traveled to the plaza, he always took a moment to take in the sight. Since the Edroki Plaza was more or less smack dab in the middle of Kithoi, this busy Rapid Transit Station was raised considerably and had one of the most impressive views of the wards. The only place more scenic than this was Kithoi point.

"Uh, Kevin, are you coming?" Ralik asked, breaking Kevin from his moment. The salarian was already partly down the stairs. He seemed anxious and in a hurry to see his brother.

"Yeah, coming," was his distracted reply.

The further down the stairs they went, the louder the ambient noise became. It was in the middle of the day here, and the plaza was already pretty busy. Kevin began to wonder just how long it would take them to find Tarsil. Edroki Plaza wasn't small by any means. The glow of shop-mounted signs attempting to catch the eye of passers by and lure them in bathed the outer edge in a vast array of colors. Down the row to their right, Ralik spied a building with a large blue-hued sign for information. Deciding not to speak above the crowd in case someone was listening, Ralik nudged Kevin and pointed to the building. Kevin nodded, thinking the information kiosk was certainly a good place to start. Fortunately for Kevin and Ralik, while crowds here tended to be large, they were also loose. It was no trouble weaving through the flowing groups of shoppers and strolling individuals. Within a matter of five minutes, they had reached the information kiosk building and stepped inside.

The moment the door shut behind them, two salarians from across the lobby walked around from behind a counter and approached Kevin and Ralik rather quickly. Armed. Kevin quickly identified the weapons as turian-issued pistols. Kevin, being rather familiar with situations like this, casually put his hands into the air.

"Alright, we surrender," he said in mocking disinterest. Ralik went to speak, but he was cut off before so much as a word was spoken.

"You know the rules. No protection services are allowed here." It seemed as though they were speaking to Ralik. Kevin took a second to think before he realized that Ralik was still in his Eclipse hardsuit – and he was without his. After casting a glance to his salarian shipmate, he found Ralik already realized what they were referring to. Kevin tried to talk them down, being slightly surprised that they had weapons aboard the Citadel.

"Now hold on just a-" He was cut off by the same salarian that spoke before. They weren't having any of it.

"Stop talking and just get out, or we'll have to drop you and turn you over to C-Sec for harassing merchants."

Kevin and Ralik simply looked at each other and cautiously turned around to walk out. As soon as they approached the door and hit the access panel, it slid open revealing a salarian prepared for an ugly situation with a full combat suit and helmet who immediately shoved a pistol in Kevin's face. Big mistake.

The split second that the realization of a firearm was that close to his person, Kevin's reflexes took over. His right hand quickly came up and grabbed the end of the pistol and twisted it jarringly and awkwardly, ripping it from the unsuspecting salarian's hand. A quick follow-up kick to the abdomen in just the right place laid the offending salarian out in the doorway with a loud grunt. Lastly, Kevin spun slightly to point his newly acquired weapon at the two merchants. As he aimed down the sight of his pistol, he quickly discovered that it was bent horribly out of shape – namely, the shape of a human hand that had gripped it from the barrel end. He turned the 'gun' to the side a bit to get a better look at it. Now that it was deformed, he could tell it wasn't a real gun. Was he just fooled? In a slight fit of confusion, he heard Ralik shouting at him from behind.

"Kevin, stop! Really, just take a breath." Ralik's tone indicated that he was a bit peeved at Kevin's immediate reaction. Kevin turned around once again to see Ralik helping the salarian he kicked up from the floor.

"Does someone want to explain to me what the crap is going on?" Kevin asked to all in the room.

"Augh," the now standing salarian grunted, "No no, it's our fault. We should have known better with someone like him." He wavered as he went to stand on his own, still wheezing from the kick. "That was a heck of a kick, Kevin. Just at the right place to knock the wind out of me. Wouldn't expect any less from _you_."

It was only now that it dinged in Kevin's head who was talking to.

"Tarsil? Are you freaking kidding me? What's with the setup?" Kevin was both relieved and irritated at the same time.

"It's called preparation, Kevin," Tarsil lightheartedly informed as he gingerly removed the helmet. "We saw someone in an Eclipse uniform walk into our information booth. You know our policy, Kevin, 'No gang members allowed'."

Kevin placed a hand on his face. He had totally forgotten that Ralik was still wearing the Eclipse suit. "Oh good Lord. I'm an idiot. But... What's up with the guns? Clearly these aren't real."

Tarsil chuckled. "Well, as you know, guns aren't permitted on the Citadel. C-Sec gives us shop owners here on Kithoi these phasic tranquilizer pistols in case someone does try to shake us down before the guards can get here. A preventative measure, see? Though... It appears their construction leaves much to be desired," Taril murmured as he took the now uselessly deformed pistol from Kevin.

"I suppose that makes me feel a bit better," Kevin said, relieved.

"What do you mean?" asked Ralik.

"The two desk clerks - I didn't recognize them. I feared someone got a hold of your shop, or C-Sec ran you out."

"That's because you've never met them before," Tarsil stated, something clicking in his head. "Which also explains why they didn't recognize either of you as well. That said, allow me to make the introductions. Kevin, Ralik, these are our two new recruits – Jolaar and Deramus. Jolaar, Deramus, this is my brother Ralik, and this is my good friend Kevin. One _is_ family and one is _like_ family, are we clear?"

The two new clerks nodded without hesitation to Tarsil, then sent some awkward, but understanding waves and gestures of greeting towards Kevin and Ralik. Kevin and Ralik both returned the gestures, equally as understanding and equally as awkward.

Tarsil pressed to move on. "Now then. Since formalities are out of the way, why don't we take our conversation to the back of the store?" Tarsil was already on his way around the counter by then.

"Right behind you, man," Kevin eagerly stated as he followed Tarsil around.

"As am I," Ralik said, doing likewise.

The two clerks resumed their positions behind the counter, waiting for customers to enter as Tarsil, Kevin and Ralik went through the thick metal door behind them. They seemed to briefly eye the two 'newcomers' before the door shut completely. Once the door was shut, the room inside was pitch black.

"Lights on," Tarsil casually stated to the darkness. Within the second, the lights of the back room came on and blanketed the place in a soft blueish white light. Now revealed was a spacey room centered by a transparent table and soft chairs. Further to the back was yet another door, which Kevin knew was their communications outlet. The left side of the room was lined with computers and database servers, along with some typical office-type locked drawers for holding physical documents. The right side of the room was more amenity-driven. Food and drink storage, vid screens, a set of comfy laid back chairs and a salarian-originated table-top game that Kevin could never pronounce correctly.

"Please, have a seat," Tarsil said, waving a hand at the table and surrounding chairs as he headed towards the food storage.

"I see you fixed the place up nice, Tarsil," Kevin mentioned, impressed as he took a chair. "Looks less like a batarian info-mining bunker."

"It looked like _what_ before?" Ralik asked with a chuckle.

"Hah. Yes, the place definitely needed what you call a 'face lift'," Tarsil added while tossing Kevin and Ralik sealed bubbly drinks. "There's a lot more functionality now."

"That's good. It also looks like cybersecurity is on the up and up." Kevin popped the seal on his beverage and started to chug, stopping only so that he wouldn't down it all in one shot.

"Of course," Taris said confidently, "Information's becoming a lucrative, but dangerous business. I can't quite compete with the Shadow Broker, but I'm already pulling in some very interesting tidbits thanks to our mutual friends. Some tidbits even the Shadow Broker sent agents to buy."

Everyone nodded, acknowledging the accomplishment that Tarsil had achieved. Anything the Shadow Broker deemed worthy of purchase was definitely information worth selling. Then there was a lasting silence. Awkward, like the kind you have after meeting a family member for the first time and not knowing what to talk about. It prevailed for maybe a minute and a half before Tarsil broke the silent streak with a legitimate question.

"So... Ralik. Did you go join those scum Eclipse while I wasn't looking or what?"

Ralik's immediate reaction was surprise, but that only lasted a fraction of a second. He sipped the last of his drink and sat forward, placing the container on the table. "Oh, you mean my suit. Let's just say it was a necessary acquisition for my infiltration into one of their HQs on Illium."

Tarsil laughed.

"So _you're_ the one that stirred up the nest?" he laughed while taking a seat. "That's just about the best thing I've heard all week." He was obviously very amused.

"Why is this so hilarious?" Ralik asked, rather curious and marginally irritated at the implications.

"Well... Because the one to make interplanetary underground wanted boards by infiltrating their stronghold and stealing experimental technology is actually my very own Ralik Dolannus! Ha!"

"Wanted boards? That does not sound healthy. How worried should I be?"

Kevin creaked a smile. He knew what was about to be said.

"Normally? Not very. One salarian in the galaxy is generally difficult to track down, especially since you left the planet on a ship they don't have tabs on. So really they don't know where you are or who you are."

"I suppose that's a relie-" Ralik was cut off by the rest of Tarsil's explanation.

"But they know him," he stated, flicking a finger towards Kevin. "They've got more than a grudge against this guy. According to some data I mined a few days back, they've spent almost a million credits faction-wide trying to track and bring Kevin down."

"Almost a million? Wow, I'm _almost_ proud of myself," Kevin sarcastically blurted out just before he leaned back and interlaced his fingers behind his head.

"And since they've seen you with him, you're quickly gaining yourself a bounty as well," Tarsil finished with a humor-driven smile.

"Great. This means bounty hunters. Leave it to Kevin to keep things interesting for me," Ralik mused, only mildly depressed.

"Hah. You don't know that half of it, Ralik," Tarsil continued. "The longer you hang around him, the more 'interesting' things get." He leaned back in his chair and began to rock it back and forth ever so slightly. "Now this explains why the Eclipse are after you," he thought aloud while pointing to Ralik, "but this doesn't explain why the Illium authorities are after _you,_" he continued as his pointing finger slowly shifted accusingly from Ralik to Kevin.

"What, me? Come on, I'm a do-right guy. Just helping a local salarian out of a bind."

"A do-right guy that gets lockdown orders," Tarsil chuckled. "You know me, Kevin. I'm just interested in the story, I don't judge. Gives me something to tell the guys down at the bar."

"It _may_ have something to do with disruption of traffic, firing weapons in the travel lanes... Oh, and the hole in the side of the hangar building probably made news, too. I did all that just getting your family here away from the 'Eclipse Scum'."

"I didn't have a ship," was Ralik's simple side of the story. "Apparently, Eclipse mercenaries can mobilize much faster now then anytime we faced them in the STG."

"You live and you learn, right Kevin?" Tarsil said while lifting his drink to Kevin.

"Or you forget and you burn," Kevin finished, raising his empty canister to the toasting salarian.

"Which reminds me!" Tarsil suddenly jumped out of his seat, not having even drank to that little toast he just announced. "Come with me. You guys will want to see this." He then swiftly moved off to the side of the room where the wall was lined with terminals.

"This should be good," Kevin said, smirking. "Tarsil doesn't get this excited over much of anything." He and Ralik also stood from their seats and moved to the terminals with the now sitting Tarsil. "Whatcha got?"

"Apparently, there was a combined effort between the salarian, turian and alliance military to send stealthed probes out deep into geth space in order to gain more intelligence on just what's left. Even though the geth aren't much of a threat right now, that could change if they find a lot more geth out there gathering their forces together. Anyways..."

"Breathe, Tarsil." Ralik laughed and patted his brother on the shoulders.

"Right, right. Yes. One of the probes found something of particular importance. Out in what is currently known as the An'Ramini Expanse, an area beyond the Far Rim relay towards the very edge of the galaxy, the probe picked up an unusually large concentration of geth forces. With a stealthed probe fly-by, it scanned everything it could."

"Alright, so there are more geth out towards dark space. How is that surprising?" Kevin was mildly disappointed. He was hoping for something far more interesting on the galactic scale. This only meant there would be very long deep space trips in uncomfortable warships into the An'Ramini Expanse to wipe out the geth before they could organize another attack. He was glad he wasn't still in the military.

"Ah but it gets better. When the probe flew by, it picked up some interesting things, like new geth ship designs, undocumented, but strip-mined planets and... something else." Tarsil hit a few buttons on the terminal and navigated to a collection of images. He expanded one of them to show on the wall-sized screen so everyone could see.

"It's an active relay," Kevin boringly stated.

"Let me finish!" Tarsil shouted. "I did some digging to see if this relay had ever been documented before, and it has. For the most part, the An'Ramini Expanse is unexplored. The quarians that discovered it never bothered with a place so close to the edge of the galaxy. That was almost four hundred years ago. Some time just before the geth uprising, a group of salarians traveled out that way with exploration in mind. They found that relay there and named it the Melkanis Relay, likely after one of the crew that helped discover it."

"You're boring me with history, Tarsil. You _are_ going somewhere with this, right?" Kevin immediately felt the hand of a salarian hit his arm, but it wasn't Tarsil's.

"He said let him finish," Ralik ordered.

"Fine, geez."

Tarsil finally continued. "Try as they might, the salarian group could not get the relay to activate, as if it was permanently shut down or incapacitated. Apparently there were one or two other groups that tried, and no one could get the relay to activate. It was soon declared as a 'dead' relay and no one bothered to place it on star maps."

"But..." Kevin started, placing a hand on his chin. "that one's active. That's the Melkanis relay?"

"Precisely. But that's only half the reason I'm so thrilled over all this."

"Can I ask one question before we get to that?" Ralik asked, stopping the explanation and leaning back with his arms folded. "If this is a military effort, how are we reading this? I expect this is highly classified information."

"And so," Tarsil smugly began, "we move onto the other half. Someone in one of those three military groups leaked this information out on the extranet. It was only out there for a short while before its source was deleted, but guess who got full copies of all this information?"

"Tarsil you sneaky son of a gun. You stole leaked military info." Kevin patted Tarsil on the back with a smile. "Know if anyone else got it?"

"As far as I can tell, there were only two other active connections to that server while I was coping the data. Like mine, those were killed when the server was shutdown to delete the sensitive data."

Ralik nodded. "So what you're saying is... You have an extremely rare and valuable piece of information that all sorts of factions will want to get their grubby hands on."

"We're going to make a fortune, brother."

"Unless the shadow broker has it and is already selling it out." Kevin always was the buzzkill.

"That's where you are wrong, Mr. Folner," Tarsil countered, waving a finger in confidence. "I've already had two offers from shadow broker agents. I guess the shadow broker knows about it, but doesn't know _about_ it. It also shows just what kind of competition we're becoming. An ominous, yet welcoming thought, yes?"

"Hmm." Ralik was clearly lost in thought, having been stuck in the same pose for several minutes now. "I'm more interested in the relay. Did you see the direction it was pointed in? It only had one rail out, pointed towards dark space."

"Maybe there's a small cluster of stars out there or something," Kevin guessed. "Whatever it is, the geth have taken a liking to it, and that makes my gut turn." There was a brief pause at such a thought.

"I bet finding out would make for one heck of a discovery," Ralik nodded, curiosity rising.

"And I bet that discovery would be worth an insurmountable number of credits," Tarsil added.

"Now now, let's not get greedy. This information alone will get you enough credits to live comfortably without working for years. Though I have to admit, I'd like to know what's out there. Something even the citadel doesn't have information on." Even Kevin's curiosity could not be kept under wraps.

"Kevin you have a new ship, why don't you go find out?" Tarsil turned his chair away from the terminal to face the other two. He couldn't resist the sudden and convenient opportunity.

"Well the Kellius is fast, but I don't know. Flying right into all those geth seems like a suicide mission. She's got no dogfight weapons, only a spine-mounted one. Plus it looks like a long trip. How far away is the An'Ramini Expanse anyways?"

Tarsil spun back around to find that out on the terminal. "According to these documents... At least a few days worth of FTL travel from the Far Rim relay. There are some planets marked out on the map that make excellent discharge locations."

"That's all well and good, but I don't have the fuel or the supplies to make that long of a trip."

Tarsil smirked. "That's an easy fix. I can have some supplies and gratuitous amounts of extra fuel 'accidentally' redirected to your ship."

"Great. And I suppose the next thing you're going to tell me is that you can cancel the lockdown on my ship," Kevin said, knowing full well that Tarsil was capable of such a feat.

"Kevin, who are you talking to?" Tarsil asked with another smirk. "Here, I'll even make it worth your while. Forty thousand credits for the delivery of information regarding exactly what is on the other side of that relay."

Kevin's barriers on this subject came crumbling down. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, I'll give it a try. But if those geth give me trouble, I'm turning around, got it? Assuming I _can_ turn around by then." Kevin chuckled and walked back towards the table. Meanwhile, Ralik finally snapped out of his deep thought.

"Wait, what? You're going to try and pass the relay? With all those geth? In that _tin can_?"

"Yeah, no thanks to your brother and all his irresistible offers," Kevin said.

"Then I'm going with. I'm a field scientist, after all. What better chance to study the unknown than to fly right into it? Ah, ignoring black holes of course." Ralik's excitement was similar to Tarsil's. Fitting, since they were brothers.

"It is settled then," Tarsil said decisively. "I'll get you supplies and you'll explore the unknown. Bring back some neat data and we all win. Bring a game with you, though. That'll be a long, quiet trip."

"Beh. I'll figure it out tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to hit the sack back on the Kellius."

"That's alright," Tarsil mentioned, tapping away at his terminal, "I'll need a few hours before the supplies can be delivered anyways."

"I'm going to stay here and help Tarsil with whatever needs to be done, Kevin. We have plenty of catching up to do anyways."

"You say that as if I'm looking forward to such conversations, brother," Tarsil sternly noted. When Ralik looked to him in disgust, Tarsil pointed at him in a 'got you!' style and they both laughed.

"Try not to kill eachother, alright? I wouldn't look forward to doing this all by my lonesome." Kevin said lightheartedly, nearing the exit.

"Lonesome?" Ralik shouted back. "What about your alluring female companion? She's going as well!"

"Female companion?" Kevin had to stop and think. He was pretty sure there wasn't anyone else on the ship. And then it hit him. Ralik was talking about Terra. "Screw you, Ralik!" he yelled back, not exactly angry. "I'll see you later."

After a quick wave from the brothers, he finally pushed through the metal door back to the information broker lobby. Upon shutting the door behind him, he was greeted by the staring eyes of the two desk clerks who probably heard him yelling back at Ralik. He put one hand up as he walked around the desk and towards the exit.

"Just... Don't ask."

Once outside, Kevin drew in a lung full of not-quite-as-artificially-refreshed air. He let it out in a long slow exhale as he stared into the moving masses of aliens and human alike all about the Edroki Plaza. He had the strangely distinct feeling that things were going to get ugly on the trip, and not with Ralik. Still, such things never deterred him in the past and they certainly wouldn't now, not with so many interesting things about to play out. For now, though, Kevin decided to worry about the prep tomorrow after some shut-eye. Turning left, he began to make his uneventful way back to his ship, and eventually, his oversized bed.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

By the time Terra informed Kevin that Ralik had returned to the ship, he had already woken up, dressed himself and checked some data on his storage device. He considered putting on a hardsuit, but he decided he'd rather stay comfortable in a regular outfit this time since there was really no need. He grabbed his pistol as usual and clipped it onto his belt before leaving. He spared no time in making his way out to the briefing room where he expected to meet Ralik. If Ralik had returned, it meant that the preparations were ready to be finished up. He stepped up to one of the two doors that separated the hallway from the briefing room and paused only for a second while he waited for the automatic door to slide its halves into the ceiling and floor. Inside, he found Ralik leaning against the briefing table.

"Enjoy your slothful shut-eye, Kevin?" Snappy as always.

"Probably about as much as you enjoyed the ridiculous catch-up session you and Tarsil no doubt had," Kevin remarked. Before Ralik could counter his rebuttal, however, Kevin went right to business. "I take it Tarsil's efforts were successful?"

Ralik nodded and ceased his casual lean against the table.

"Indeed. The lockdown should be cancelled, and from what I can tell, a large order of. . . Well, a lot of things is sitting outside the docking ramp, waiting for us to lower it so the mechs can get it on the ship."

Kevin nodded, visibly pleased with how efficient Tarsil worked. He stepped over to one of the terminals lining the port side of the neck of the ship, slipped on a haptic interface glove and tapped a few things on the holo-screen.

"There. Ramp's lowering. We're sure all that stuff is actually what we need, right? No bombs or tracking devices or the like, right?" Kevin asked, not even looking at Ralik. He was too busy watching the video feed of the cargo bay with several mechs loading large crates onto the ship.

"This is Tarsil we're talking about," Ralik responded with a confident tone. "You know him almost as well as I do. There won't be any problems."

"Yeah,I suppose you're right. I wouldn't do it to him, so. . ."

The mechs continued to load the abundance of cargo onto the ship in a very organized fashion, laying each crate out in groups separated by type along the walls of the cargo bay. It took them about twenty minutes just to finish bringing all the crates aboard. When the task was finished, the mechs all filed out of the ship and returned to whatever they were doing before they were required to load cargo. That taken care of, Kevin tapped a few more times on the haptic screen and the loading ramp closed with a low hum and a brief crack. Now it was time to get the trip under way.

Kevin and Ralik both turned to head to the bridge. They arrived to see a bright red icon hovering over the Kellius' main controls, indicating that the lockdown was in effect. Kevin was not pleased about this sudden change in Tarsil's efficiency.

"Ralik, what gives? I thought you said it would have been taken care of already."

"I-" The salarian was suddenly cut off by a convenient message delivered in classic Terra fashion.

"Kevin, there is an incoming transmission from an unknown sender."

"Patch it through to the co– the bridge, Terra," Kevin ordered, pretty much guessing it was his salarian buddy.

"I see the mechs have completed their job." It was Tarsil, just as expected.

"Hey Tarsil," Kevin started, "why are we still locked down here?"

"All in good time, my friend. Wouldn't want C-Sec discovering an unauthorized lockdown cancellation coming from their terminal while you were napping."

Ralik cracked a chuckle at Kevin's temporary thick-headedness, which resulted in a light slap across the back of his horned head.

"Right," the human acknowledged.

"It should be unlocking now. Hurry hurry, it won't take them long to see that you somehow evaded a lockdown order."

"That's my boy," Kevin said with a smile. "Terra, get these engines going and prepare the ship to disembark."

"Acknowledged. Engines coming online. Mass effect core coming online. Disengaging airlock and docking clamps."

A small, but noticeable jolt was felt as the Kellius came free of the docking clamps and began to float backwards toward the open dock and open space. The red icon on the controls had disappeared the moment Terra fired up the engines and within a minute the whole ship was ready to go.

"Awaiting destination data or pilot input," Terra formally concluded, indicating her immediate task had since finished.

"See you when we return, brother," Ralik excitedly said, bidding farewell to his kin.

"Stay out of trouble until we get back, alright? And thanks for all the junk now in my trunk."

"I worry more about when you do actually return," Tarsil prodded. "Should be exciting, yes? Anywho, don't thank me for the supplies, Kevin. You're also doing me a huge favor. Good luck out in the An'Ramini Expanse, and watch out for geth patrols. Tarsil out." With that, the communication channel was severed.

Kevin seized the moment to pat his new shipmate on the back and walk away from the bridge towards the briefing room.

"You're driving."

Surprised, Ralik quickly turned to look back and forth between Kevin and the helm which he had just abandoned in the middle of a disembarkment procedure. What was he thinking? They could smash into the side of the hangar!

"Uh, shouldn't you. . . The ship. . . We need. . . Kevin!" Frustrated at being forced into piloting a frigate, Ralik grumbled unmentionable things about Kevin before cautiously taking the forward pilot seat and manning the controls of the Kellius. Just what Kevin was going for.

Meanwhile, Kevin took one of the many seats surrounding the holographic-enabled briefing table and kicked his boots up. He noted they had not hit anything yet. It seemed Ralik was better at piloting frigate sized ships than he let on. He figured as much ever since hearing that his shipmate had spent quite some time with the Special Tasks Group.

By now they were well outside the hangar and on their way to the first of several mass relays that would bring them to the Far Rim star system.

"See Ralik? You're a natural. Looks like you just inherited a share of the pilot duty."

Ralik wasn't as peeved as Kevin was hoping for, though.

"I figured it might come to light that I could pilot a frigate sooner or later. I was simply hoping for later. Note, though. While I _can_ indeed fly a frigate, I am no match for a seasoned or fully trained pilot in terms of skill."

"Yeah, I get it. I know how it is, trust me," Kevin mentioned, brushing it off as an excuse.

"Alright, we're out of the Citadel's immediate area."

"Terra," Kevin shouted, calling for his surprisingly useful VI, "plot a course for the Far Rim system."

"Alert. I do not have sufficient existing data to plot a course to the Far Rim star system. There are no trade routes to that star system due to geth presence in that system."

"Well doesn't that figure," Kevin grumbled. "I was starting to think you were actually useful."

Kevin brought up the galaxy map on one of the two terminals on the port side of the neck of the ship. With a haptic adaptive interface glove still on his hand, he pointed out Far Rim system and determined which mass relays they would have to hit along the way. With that set, he called on Terra once again.

"Terra, plot a course following the waypoints I configured on the map."

"Acknowledged. Course plotted. We are approaching the first mass relay."

Kevin and Ralik could feel the ship change configuration slightly through a small vibration in the floor. Kevin knew what was going on. It was typical of any ship with thrusters extending off the main fuselage to tuck in when it was about to come into contact with a mass relay. It helped to reduce large amounts of drift, even though the overall mass never changed. The ship Kellius approached the relay, flying along side the huge rails that pointed in the direction opposite of their flight path. As they neared the massive luminescent center, the rings that spun around the source of the light spun faster and faster. The ship's mass effect core automatically activated, and a bright white and blue arc of energy bridged the ship and the relay's center for a fraction of a second. At that point, the Kellius shot off in the direction of the second set of rails on the relay, and everything through the viewports blueshifted.

Not more than a couple seconds later, they had arrived at the next mass relay. This process happened a few more times, only requiring small amounts of adjustment due to drift, which was common among all ships. In less than a minute, the system of Far Rim was in view. They stopped at the Dholen system, which was the closest mapped solar system to the direction they needed to head. Kevin headed up to the bridge and brought up his omni-tool in the process. He used it to upload the map data that he had gathered from Tarsil's findings and research to help give them some direction and the locations of the gas giants where they could discharge the static build-up from the drive core. After uploading the data, he moved to stand behind Ralik's chair.

"Maps are uploaded," Kevin noted. "Should be able to access them now."

Ralik nodded and navigated the ship's systems to bring up the new maps. "Here we are. Hmm. We might not have to stop at each gas giant. Our newer ship should be able to handle twice the distance before discharging compared to those older research vessels. This would mean. . ."

Kevin finish the sentence. "Only fifteen stops instead of thirty. Even still, that's a long trip."

"Eight, actually. That fancy drive core does wonderful things for long term trips. My calculations put that at about ten to eleven days worth of FTL travel, including all discharge stops. We're likely to be set at a high FTL speed, so that means a few more stops to discharge. Guessing about thirty-two hours before discharge."

"Tarsil wasn't kidding. Thank God for all those recent advancements in thruster and drive core technology and efficiency. I don't think the Kellius was originally meant to be a deep-space exploration vessel. Alright, set our course as you see fit and we'll go have a bite to eat."

"Done and done. Meet you there in a couple minutes. Just need to make a few slight adjustments to this plotted course. Might shave a few hours off of the trip."

Kevin turned and headed back down the neck of the ship. Upon entering the mess hall, which looked more like an executive's lounge, he paused a moment to stare at the small kitchen in the back. He then decided he would cook this dinner, rather than just pull out a double supply of rations for himself. Investigation of the supplies and tools came first, however. What he found was a small, yet fully equipped kitchen comparable to what one might find back on earth if a high class restaurant kitchen only had to serve ten people at a time. Inside the refrigeration compartments, he found all manner of fresh ingredients. Vegetables, fruits, and meats from across the galaxy, and even some he didn't recognize. There was even a separate compartment for dextro-amino based foods, likely for the the turian companions Linus had.

It would only be a few minutes before Ralik arrived, so he set to work right away. By the time Ralik had finished his adjustments and arrived at the lounge, the aroma of seasoned meats and carefully prepared vegetables filled the room.

"Sorry Ralik," Kevin called out from behind some kitchen gear, "I haven't got the slightest idea what salarian cuisine is, so I just started cooking something I like. It's not five star grade, but it's better than rations."

Ralik sniffed the air and raised a brow. "I have no idea what you're cooking, but I must admit it smells. . . edible."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Have a seat, this is going to take a bit more time. There are some drinks on the far side behind the bar table."

Ralik gathered drinks for them both and took a seat. About twenty minutes later, the food was ready and placed on the large oval table in the center of the room where they were to eat. Kevin's portion was easily more than twice that of Ralik's. The salarian looked between the two plates and gave Kevin an odd stare. Kevin had to defend himself against such an unspoken accusation.

"What? It's because I'm biotic."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"Come on. You know I have higher dietary requirements."

"Yes, yes, of course."

"I'm going to hurt you."

Over the course of the meal, they talked about life as a biotic, and what small things in life made huge differences. Ralik never talked to any biotic about the lifestyle differences before, so it was the perfect opportunity to understand more about human biology and biotics in general. When Kevin mentioned that biotics had to discharge just like ships did, Ralik wondered why he never saw Kevin do it. Kevin simply avoided the question by finishing his meal and bringing his dishes to the automatic cleaner and moving onto something else about biotic life.

At the end of the meal, Ralik expressed interest in taking a nap. He had gone quite some time without one, and his mind needed some downtime. Kevin bid him 'sweet dreams' and Ralik blamed being too tired to come up with a suitable rebuttal. After the sluggish salarian moved down a deck, Kevin thought about what to do. He realized that he hadn't yet taken a look at that room labeled as 'entertainment' yet, so now was as good a time as any to do so. Fortunately, that room just happened to be the very next room down the hall towards the master quarters.

Kevin waved his hand at the access panel and the door split into 4 parts before disappearing into the walls and ceiling like usual. Inside, it was pitch black. Not a single light was dimmed, or even on for that matter.

"Lights on."

When the room subsequently lit up, the first thing that Kevin noticed was that the square room was nearly empty. There were some luxurious couches sparsely placed along the walls, each with a small round table in front of it and a corner was taken up by a section raised from the floor about six feet. Then he realized why the room was so empty. The smooth, flat surface that occupied the majority of the floorspace Kevin guessed was a dance floor. The ceiling was dotted with a huge variety of lighting and special effect devices normally found in clubs and the like. The next thing he noticed was the fact that the ambient lighting filling the room was not coming from any particular light source. Upon closer inspection, he found that the light was actually coming from the walls themselves. All four walls in the room were essentially massive screens.

He next investigated the raised section. He found a set of small stairs around the side, leading up to a six foot by six foot area surrounded by waist high walls of audio equipment, controls for the lighting, and several other pieces of gear specific to this room. All of it was top of the line. Kevin cracked a wide smile and immediately reached into his pocket for his storage device. He plugged it into the audio equipment and used the controls to locate his massive library of music. Kevin, being a fan of music styles often played in modern clubs, had more than enough music that would fit this setting. He picked out one of his favorite bass loaded pieces and played it over the sound emitters in the room which he dubbed '_Club Kellius_'.

At first when the music played it was quiet, as if the volume was last set to play in the background. Kevin fixed that real fast. Using the plethora of controls before him, he increased the volume to a point where each kick in the song could potentially cause his heart to skip a beat. He couldn't help but start bouncing his head to the beat as he moved onto the lighting controls. He used these tools to change the ambient color to a much darker variant of blue so that it wasn't so bright in the room. He turned some of the lighting effects on and much to his pleasant surprise, every change to direction, color or intensity of each effect was consistent with the music being played. Even the screens on the walls, which mostly showed abstract shapes and shifting colors, moved with the tunes.

"I could get used to this. Party's at my place? You bet."

Kevin spent at least a couple hours playing with all the settings and other controls before he finally gave it a rest. After shutting all the expensive equipment down, he retired to his room where opted to look over a few more data files in his storage device. With Ralik napping, he had another chance to review those mysterious logs he continually lost memory about. This time he decided to check something outside the normal corrupted video logs. These ones, set aside in a different directory labeled 'Preliminary reports', were originally audio only and apparently were recorded by the same scientist that did the other logs.

"Okay. I'm pretty sure I don't check these as often. Am I right or wrong?" As Kevin spoke to himself, he simultaneously navigated to a simple text file labeled "Increment". He opened the file and it read: _Number of times Preliminaries have been reviewed: 6._ After a quick integer adjustment, looked over the staggering number of files present in that directory. Each had a number for the file name running from one to one hundred and five. It was clear that the file names were not the originals, as some of the numbers had question marks after them. It was as if whoever numbered the files wasn't entirely sure if that number was the right one to place on that particular file. Given the enigmatic timeline documented in the other log files, this wasn't surprising. Unfortunately, Kevin could never remember events that corresponded with the numbers. The files were without description. He might have to remedy that at some point. For now, he figured starting at the beginning was the logical choice, and he opened the first numbered audio file. The result once again instantly played over the room's sound emitters.

"Preliminary report, time reference – day Alpha. All of the recruits of the project have finally been assembled. We all met for the first time earlier today in a quick meeting with the project lead who expressed his gratitude for us wanting to undertake this long, long assignment and our enthusiasm for the project. He outlined the overall goals and set down a few ground rules that we must observe over the next many years.

"I personally had been tasked with keeping a set of logs for the various phases of the project, starting right here with the preliminary reports. I aim to have logs kept every week until the first phase begins, where I will record logs multiple times a week.-"

Kevin ended the recording early. He could see where that log was going. It was a first log, likely full of bad opinions, mundane notes and banter relating to the start of the unnamed project. Kevin typed in a simple description. _The beginning. Project name is conspicuously absent. Full of babble._ It was then that Kevin realized just how daunting a task giving each log a description would be. Nevertheless, he was determined to go over each one and get some sort of description in so that he might have a better idea of what was going on next time he had to review. At the very least, it would help pass the time during the long trip.

Slowly but surely, Kevin began to listen to each and every preliminary log followed by him attaching a quick synopsis of each report in the description of the audio files. Most of the preliminaries were boring and lacking in useful intel. Such was the case when a project slated to be actively in progress for several years was about to kick off. However, there was occasionally a log that had some interesting information. The first case of such was preliminary number twenty-eight. Kevin hit play and the all too familiar Irish accented man spoke through the emitters once more.

"Preliminary report – time reference. . . Something something day alpha. Augh, I don't know. Unimportant. The project lead mentioned outside help, but this was not what we expected. An asari scientist arrived on the station today. Her credentials point her out as one of the top asari xenobiology researchers, almost infamous among the scientific community for having no moral inhibitions and edgy ethical practices. She came to help us decode the nervous system and show us some major differences between the comparatively benign human system versus that of an asari.

"We studied the differences as a team, and designed plans for the potential of a much, much stronger human nervous system and in addition, neural modifications that would give a human the capacity to contain these changes. The designs are in holo-print now. These changes are groundbreaking. I cannae wait to see the fruits of this labor. McRoilie out."

Kevin set the description to: _Asari scientist gets involved. First notable excitement of documenter._ Interestingly enough, the very next preliminary had just as much interesting information in it.

"Preliminary report – time reference, second report collaborated with asari scientist. The blue-skin was supposed to leave the station the other day, but did not. We ran numerous simulations of genetic structuring based on known natural biological fetus creation processes. Every single one of them were catastrophic failures. Bloody ridge-head. The asari volunteered to remain and assist us determine what went wrong. Apparently it was a simple question of genetic quota. The asari had included too much of her own people's genetics into the design, and as such, human mothers' bodies would automatically reject the fetus after three weeks of growth when the immune system could determine that the fetus was not quite human.

Essentially we were back at the drawing board. The asari apologized for admittedly being too anxious to see a genetically diverse human asari hybrid come to life. We quickly reminded her what the purpose of the project was and started from scratch. Much to our fortune, she decided to stay another week and help design a more modified version of the human central nervous and neural system rather than build one up from two sets of genetic data. So far the results are less dramatic, and a bit more realistic. McRoilie out."

Kevin sat back a moment after writing in his description of: _Epic failure. Proof of asari's lack of ethics/moral inhibitions made known. Square one._ Although he knew these files had to do with his past, he questioned that now. The thought of an ethically gray and eager asari having a hand in his very genetic makeup made him shudder. At least that might explain some of the differences between him and other biotics that he often wondered about. It was obvious by this point that the goal of the project was to create humans that could make full use of biotic abilities without the need for an amplifier. Given the nature of such an experiment, it was understandable why an asari scientist got involved. For science, of course.

After Kevin had closed the fifty-third log, he noticed that several hours had passed by since he started this little project of his own, and he wanted to stretch his legs. He figured Ralik was either up by now or about to be. Salarians never did sleep long, what with their insane metabolism and short life cycle. Kevin envied that short sleep sometimes. He hated wasting hours every day doing it himself. Despite all the advances of medical theory and technology, no one had yet found a way to make it so that a human did not have to sleep to live. It was a biological requirement so rudimentary that even modern science could not shrug it off, and that aggrivated Kevin just on principle. The one thing, other than his headaches, that he'd want to be rid of and it couldn't be done. Annoying as it was, he could never dwell on it for too long. If he did, he'd drive himself batty.

Kevin pushed these thoughts away from his mind and brought himself back to the task at hand. He wanted to see what Ralik was up to, if he was up to anything at all. In order to entertain this initial thought, he called upon Terra.

"Terra, what is Ralik's current location?" he asked as he closed his files and pushed the chair back.

"Ralik Dolannus is currently in engineering," the VI eloquently replied.

It seemed Kevin's initial hunch was right. With that in mind, Kevin wondered how long his shipmate had been down there, and even moreso than before, what he was doing. Kevin stood up, shut the terminal off and turned to head down into engineering. He decided to get a good, full on look at the second deck this time, as he was unable to recall any point where he actually had gone through the second deck. After stepping outside the outer door from his quarters, he took an immediate right to head down the stairwell to deck two. He knew that engineering would be inside a door right at the base of the stairs, but he wanted to get a look at the entire deck anyways.

Now on the second deck and in the middle of the aft end of the the hallway, he realized that the corridor on this deck was much more cramped. Head space was significantly reduced and it was only wide enough for one, maybe one and a half people. In addition, it more or less stayed along the center of the ship rather than jump center to side then back to center like deck one's did. The only place it made any significant change in direction was towards the bow end of the ship, where it jutted port to the stairwell to decks one and three. Behind him at the aft end was the large, very reinforced door with a luminescent label centered over top simply reading in bright deep blue letters: 'Engineering'. As he walked down the hall, the first two rooms he came across were port and starboard observation decks. Opting for the starboard side, he waved his hand over the access panel to activate the doors.

He stepped inside to the dimly lit room and called for lights to turn on. The first and most obvious feature in this room was the room-tall and half-room sized window. Centered along the far wall, it provided a sweeping, but currently blue-washed view of the galaxy outside. The rest of the room was made out to be like a lounge. Some reclining soft-textured chairs dotted the comfortable, albeit limited, floorspace. A massive screen sat unused on the aft wall, and a number of sound emitters surrounded the couch that faced it. The Kellius was certainly fitted with all manner of luxuries. Personal vid theaters included.

Kevin took a closer look at the rounded-corner square viewport. He could see the inside of the outer hull, and the space between the outer and inner hull where ablative armor typically rested on more combat equipped vessels. He saw what looked to be a set of massive one-piece shutters what would cover and lock over the inner and outer weak transparent material in times of need. This was a good thing, as everyone knew viewports were structural weaknesses. Satisfied with his self-hosted tour, Kevin moved back out to the hallway.

Figuring the port observation deck would be similar, he ignored it for now and headed towards the bow. Up ahead on his left room where the VI core and Life support system was housed. He only needed to take a peek, so he could see what style of VI housing he might have to deal with in the future. Inside, the room was already faintly lit with the screens and lights around the VI core system and the life support equipment. To Kevin's relief, the VI core was a standard circular array with a hollowed out center that lowered to the manual systems for ease of maintenance. As far as Kevin knew, these were the easiest to handle in emergency situations. Towards the bow was the huge life support system. On the aft side of the room, he could see a second large array that looked far more complicated and had one obvious hardline to the VI core. It had several inactive screens on it and a beveled, not illuminated, label that spanned the top of the hardware. "T.E.R.A."

Kevin backed out of the room, deciding that he saw all he needed to see. VI programming and maintenance weren't his forte, and he made no false attempts to anyone to make it seem like it was. Ever. Physical location was all he needed. Once again he trekked the halls like some sort of curious new hallway monitor. Further ahead on his right was the crew quarters. He activated the panel and stepped inside for a look-see.

It was quaint. Looking aft, five sets of bunk beds lined the port and starboard walls, with the fifth one against the aft wall. Each bed had its own light and fold out nightstand. At the bow side of the room was a durable looking table surrounded by five unanchored chairs. On the bow wall was a huge sliding door. Kevin opened it to find a relatively empty closet. There was some turian and human formal attire hanging far to one side, but that was it. No gear, no weapons. They must have taken it all when they went to Omega. He closed the closet door and made his way out. As he exited, he noticed that all the beds were made up nice except for the bottom one closest to the door, which had some ruffled blankets. That must have been where Ralik just woke up from. At least he did actually sleep.

At last Kevin was on his way back to engineering. Now maybe he could both see what Ralik was up to and see that miniature Tantalus drive core.

When the door – which had two layers to it – opened, the bright blue glow of the spinning three-armed tip of the Tantalus drive core coated Kevin. He had never been on a ship where any piece of the core was exposed enough to emit any light, so he wasn't quite expecting that. After taking a quick moment to let his eyes adjust, he found that the deck he was on and the lower deck of engineering was part of one open room. The floor was metal and spotted with small holes similar a grate. There was only so much walking space, as the drive core took up most of it, especially on this deck. Terminals lined the walls on either side, and two multi-terminal podiums sat along the railed edge facing the spinning core. There were simple deck exchange elevators on the far port and starboard sides of the room. Kevin didn't see Ralik up here, so he guessed that Ralik had taken one down a deck.

When Kevin stepped on the port side elevator, it automatically lowered to the deck below. It was here that he found the salarian he was looking for. He was amidst an area which looked to Kevin like it was a makeshift laboratory. A couple of the smaller crates that were loaded onto the ship were present and open. Ralik was busy on a terminal that clearly was not part of the original ship design and did not notice the human approaching from behind.

This level of engineering was less clean and trim, as it were. Large pipes and thick wires symmetrically flowed from wall to floor and eventually into the drive core's management system at the base. Bulkheads were easily visible in various areas. The available walking space down here was a bit more, since the space taken up by the drive core's spinning arms were higher up. Down here, like the floor directly above them, the railing depicting the 'edge' of the walkable space didn't form a flat line from wall to wall. It followed a gradual curve around the drive core and had terminals monitoring various systems. Unfortunately, the walking space was reduced by Ralik's lab, which had expanded slightly away from the bow side wall. Time to find out what was going on.

"Ralik," Kevin called out above the ambient noise of the working drive core, "what are you doing, exactly?"

Ralik turned around in surprise, arms poised to strike. "Whoa, hey-! Kevin? What did I tell you about doing that?" The salarian let out a loose sigh to calm his nerves. "Take a look. It seems Tarsil sent us a bit more than extra fuel and food."

"I can see that, but what are you doing?"

"It is laboratory equipment, but as you likely have already noticed, we lack anything resembling a lab."

Kevin tilted his head and crossed his arms. "So. . . you build a makeshift lab right in the middle of engineering?"

"Of course. We'll need at least some of this equipment to gather information on anything we find beyond the Melkanis relay."

"But. . . Engineering?" Emphasis on the engineering part.

"More available power sources."

Kevin let his face fall into an open palm.

"Besides," Ralik continued, "There are no critical systems in this spot, and I needed an open area. This is one of very few open areas."

"Alright, alright, I see your point," Kevin acquiesced.

"Unless, of course, you want the lab in your oversized room. Next to the bed, maybe. Yes, that would do nicely. Toss that tiny terminal and set up a lab in it's place. Maybe place the workbench where the shower used to be. . ."

Kevin was about to simply walk away until he heard one specific word.

"Workbench? Where? When did we get one of those?"

Ralik simply cracked a smile before he returned to setting up a piece of equipment. "It's over on the starboard side there, past the locked cargo bay access door. It was in one of the first crates I opened once I found out there were other items among our food and fuel."

Kevin was thrilled to hear that a workbench was available to him, even though he might have ultimately converted a med bay counter himself later on. This was the easiest way for him to modify his weapon and hardsuit, since the workbench had power and the tools to do it. Combined with his omni-tool, he could make all sorts of changes. When he realized he left all his pistol mods up in his room, he decided to make it a later project to help pass the the time.

"Try not to convert the entire place, alright? We still need an engineering." Kevin turned to leave by hitting the elevator first. On his way out, he could hear Ralik singing something to himself.

"I am the very model of a scientist salarian~."

"Yeah right," Kevin said under his breath as he rose up a deck.

For now he thought would go back to his room and resume categorization of the logs, take a shower and likely fall asleep to some music. With a multi-day FTL trip in the works, napping might be the easiest way to pass time. Kevin once again called upon the VI for something as he stepped off the stairs and onto deck one.

"Terra, please alert Ralik when we get close to our first stop. Should be a gas giant so we can discharge the core." This way he wouldn't have to be bothered each time. Sneaky.

"Acknowledged."


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

"Log sixty-four. Time reference – three weeks and one day following the distortion incident. The past three log times have been missed due to a combination of cleanup and new findings. Interestingly, these new developments, while unrelated to the incident, still hold significant scientific weight. Having been to the Ascension wing at Grissom Academy myself, I am well aware of an interesting, yet subdued phenomena among the biotics. Similar to the element zero in drive cores, human biotics must discharge some amount of electrical buildup as they perform tasks with biotics. It usually comes in the form of a small shock when touching grounded objects or people, as no one can go for long without discharging and as such cannot build up a significant charge to do any damage.

"What we've been discovering over the course of this project is that our subjects do not exhibit this phenomena. While this on the surface may seem an inconsequential finding, the reality is a bit more interesting, if not surprising. After a short bit of research, I found that in no point during their lives do asari ever experience biotic related electrical buildup. At the risk of being scientifically inaccurate, I am going to make the assumption that the static buildup that typical human biotics experience is directly related to the artificially amplified electrical nervous system impulses. It seems chemically generated synapses do not agitate the element zero nodules in the same way that mechanically generated ones do. This opens up an entirely new area of element zero research, but such comes after the project at hand. At the very least I am glad we, the staff, do not have to endure electrical discharges every time we handle the children. McRoilie out."

Kevin closed the audio log and threw in an appropriate description. This particular log actually had information he had been seeking, mostly as to why he never experienced the static shock like most his friends at the Ascenion Project did. It also pointed something out to him. Any biotic friends he had back then who never had to deal with that issue must have been from the same project. It was obvious from the logs that this project was the first time anything relating to natural biotics had ever been attempted, so it was pretty safe to assume he could have personally known other kids from the project.

He laid back in the chair and stretched. They were now about three and a half days into their long FTL trip. The whole thing was going pretty smooth so far. Each discharge stop was devoid of events, much like the rest of the voyage. He and Ralik hadn't said much to each other outside of short conversations during the core discharge stops and a couple meals they just happened to have together. Kevin was straight up bored, but he considered this a good thing. The less things we wrong, the more it was likely he could get through the relay, make some groundbreaking discoveries and get back for his cash. Perhaps he could even consider this an easy job. With the absurd amount of money Tarsil offered him, he could easily lay back for a few months and do nothing.

For the first time in his life, he actually _wanted_ to hit up Afterlife and have a solid set of hours grinding up against his favorite asari dance partner rather than having it just happen. What a weird urge to have. He thought about going over to Club Kellius and putting on some dance music at high volumes to curb these wants, but without anybody else in the room it would be empty and unsatisfying. Why was he so anxious to go out and do something? All the entertainment features he could ever want were aboard this ship, but it just didn't fill the void the same way that physical freedom did. It was too bad there wasn't a gym aboard the ship. He could use a good workout.

Kevin felt the ship come out of FTL. They must have been stopping for their next discharge site. Kevin saw this as a chance to move a bit and he shut the terminal down once again. This time he was headed for the bridge.

Upon arrival at the front of the ship, he found Ralik setting the ship up for a core discharge. Without saying a word, he stepped around one of the empty chairs and peered out the viewports. The star they now orbited was a deep blue, and the planet they stopped above was a starkly contrasting orange and red. The edge of the planet towards the star looked like a fluorescent lavender. Pretty. Stepping back, he leaned on one of the consoles and looked at Ralik. Ralik was concentrating on the placement of the ship, but that could do nothing to hide the new burn mark that scarred the lower left side of his face.

"Ralik, what did you _do?_"

"What?" Ralik asked, hardly looking up from the controls. "Oh, I suppose you mean this." Ralik tapped the left side of his face with an armored finger.

"Yup, that'd be it," Kevin confirmed, folding his arms.

"A small run-in with an electrical discharge on one of the pieces of equipment I was setting up earlier today. I think the power management systems on it were dead on arrival. After connecting it to a power source, electricity arced from the device to my. . . Face."

"Ouch. Well, good to see you didn't get thrown into the drive core. This trip is boring enough as is."

"You really should work on your ability to console, Kevin. It lacks horribly. At least with this I can still make breeding arrangements. You, my friend, had no chance from birth."

Kevin was all set up to deliver a considerable blow to Ralik's ego, but unfortunately that moment never presented itself. In place of his counter was a beeping that sounded a bit too much like an alarm to go unnoticed. Ralik stopped what he was doing and he tapped a few things on the haptic interface to figure out what was going on. Kevin leaned in to see.

"It looks like. . . A broadcasted signal." Ralik tilted his head in astonishment.

"Way out here in the middle of nowhere? In geth space? There's no way. A trap maybe?"

"It is possible, but as you said, I really don't see why anyone for any reason would be way out here in geth space. Why would the geth set up a snare out here?"

"Unless someone's heading in the same direction as us. Well, what does it say?" Kevin asked, anxious to at least hear the message. Ralik tapped a bit more and the message began to play.

Unfortunately, it was distorted immensely. All it contained were garbled sounds mixed with gratuitous amounts of white noise.

"Terra," Kevin started, "can you clean this message up at all?"

"Attempting audio recovery. Please stand by." There was a silence of a whole two seconds.

"Unfortunately, the message could not be reconstructed. There is too much audio degradation. However, it appears that this signal was broadcasted on current distress call channels."

"Can a point of origin be established?" Ralik asked, driving for more information.

"A point of origin cannot be accurately determined due to the same interference that caused the signal degradation. However, the direction of broadcast and signal strength suggests that it may have come from within this solar system."

Kevin immediately brought up the local system map on the terminal in front of the bridge chair to the left of the one Ralik sat in.

"According to our scans of the system, there's only one other planet orbiting this star. It's on the far side. I guess that could explain the degradation. It had to pass right by the star to get to us."

Another alarm started going off. This one had a whole different level of urgency to it.

"Terra?" Kevin asked, not waiting to find out via terminal.

"Alert: Several vessels have dropped out of FTL within this solar system. They match current geth dropship-class ship profiles."

"Ah crap," Kevin calmly said, shaking his head. "And just when things were going so well. Ralik, we better move."

"Already on it," Ralik stated as the ship began to sink into the opaque atmosphere of the planet. "The atmosphere of this planet absorbs and diffuses signals. If we lower in we'll be blind, but we won't catch the attention of the geth."

The viewports became obscured by a swirling menagerie of colored gases partnered by the occasional flash of odd-colored lightning from the discharging core. The light of the nearby sun could still be visible, but its blue hue was long gone.

"Why would the geth be sending dropship-class ships out here?" Kevin wondered aloud. "Those aren't regular patrol or mining vessels."

"I think we know why," Ralik solemnly said, looking to Kevin.

"You've got to be kidding me. So that distress call is real. My brain tells me to just pick up and leave. It's best not to get involved with the geth on their turf. Even still, we don't know who's over there."

"Could simply be pirates or slavers looking to get outside of the range of prying eyes. Either way, the drive is just about fully discharged, so we can move in a minute."

Kevin thought about it for that entire minute. There was a considerable amount of risk in finding out more. When the core was all set, Ralik looked up to him to see what his decision was.

"Let's at least maneuver around the far side to we can get a clear listen to that distress call. I want to hear who's over there."

Ralik sighed. "Alright Kevin. It was your call. I will be keeping my distance, though."

"Fair enough. Let's move."

Ralik turned his attention back to the plethora of glowing controls before him and he began to set in a course for an area away from both planets where they should be able to pick up the signal with better clarity. They briefly moved to FTL to reach said are in a minimal amount of time. There they conducted and all-stop and drifted while they received the distress call.

"_This is Captain Siri'Kortel of the quarian ship Forverna. We have been downed by the geth on an unknown planet orbiting the star L5288 beyond the Dholen solar system just outside the edges of the Far Rim star system. We need immediate assistance before the geth return. If anyone is out there. . . Please help!"_

At that point the message began to repeat.

"Quarians?" Kevin was taken aback at such a find. "What are they doing way out here?"

"Will you stop asking such rhetorical questions?" Ralik jabbed. "Shall we go now? It's only another six days to the Melkanis relay."

"I'll drive," Kevin said, much to Ralik's relief.

"All yours. I was getting sick of that seat anyways." Ralik stood from his seat and stepped back to take the position of over-the-shoulder observer while Kevin sat down.

Much to Ralik's dismay, however, they did not head away from the system via FTL. Instead, Kevin was bee-lining it for the planet were the distress call was coming from.

"Uhh, Kevin? What are you doing?"

"You heard the distress call, Ralik. They need help. If the geth are still sending dropships in, then they must still be fighting to stay alive."

"We're on the verge of making a monumental discovery, and you want to play hero against the geth for a bunch of vagrants? I cannot believe I let you take that seat!"

"What can I say? I have a soft spot for quarians. Sit down before you hurt yourself."

Ralik was more than upset. He was worried. "Can't we just wish them well and go? There is too much risk here."

"Would your old STG unit just ignore an entire ship of quarians about to meet a slow demise due to the geth?" Kevin asked, trying to hit a place in Ralik that would make him understand.

"If it went against mission parameters, yes. One ship of scavengers is hardly high priority."

"Look, if I go planetside by myself, you can hang here and monitor the situation. If I die or can't make it back to the ship, then you can take it and leave to go complete your almighty mission. I know you aren't _that_ heartless, Ralik. Especially after risking _your_ life to help Illium police."

Frustrated, Ralik grumbled and sat down to Kevin's right. Whether it was that Kevin finally hit that spot or it was that Ralik simply gave up, Kevin didn't know. Either way, they were now on their way to an unknown, whitewashed planet with one black band in its otherwise clear atmosphere.

"We'll approach from the night side," Kevin stated. "Hopefully that's not where the geth are congregating. At least by then we'll get a better scan of what's going on, since we'll be out of the sun. Seems like its radiation is messing with some sensors. Guess that's why the message was so garbled before."

Ralik no longer had any input. He resigned to letting himself cool down before bringing any advice to this situation. Be that as it may, it seemed to him Kevin's strategy, however shallow, was sound at this point. When they fell into the shadow of the planet, the interference had largely vanished. Having a better scan of the planet, Kevin could tell that there was little to be scanned. It was more or less barren, and had a thin atmosphere of nitrogen. Most scans of the surface came back blank, probably due to the fact that the surface was constantly saturated by the radiation the local star had put out. Even still there was no debris, dead bodies, geth or anything of note on this half, so whatever was left had to be on the day side. Despite this, the scans revealed that the small black cloudy band around the equator was in fact smoke that had gotten caught in a mid-atmosphere jet stream of sorts. If they found the source, they would probably found the quarians – and the geth.

Ralik checked one of the haptic screens on the far left of the bridge. "Gravity reads about one point zero nine that of the citadel's. Should be safe to land."

"We're going in, fast and low," Kevin announced. "We'll do a fly-by search for the source of the smoke, following that band there."

"Why do a low altitude search when we can just pick out the source from the day side?" Ralik asked.

"Because," Kevin confidently started, "most of our chances of our getting out of this alive rest on keeping the geth ignorant of our presence. You saw the interference the star caused. Staying low to the surface might help us evade scans a bit longer, especially if the radiation is bathing the ship too."

"My concern rests with the quarians, believe it or not. This will take longer, and who knows how long they might be able to hold off the geth."

"If they can survive long enough to set up a distress beacon, then they likely can survive a few extra minutes."

Just at that point, the Kellius entered the atmosphere of the planet. The ship shuttered as it split the foreign air, but was otherwise unaffected. They decreased in speed as they approached the surface to level out. As soon as they were parallel to the unlit barren ground, they increased speed to begin the search. Not more than a minute later, they entered into the day lit side. Mountains, hills and what appeared to be the pointed blades of massive double edged swords jutting up from the surface flew by below them in a blur. There also seemed to be sparse clusters of some sort of vegetation. They looked like trees, but they didn't flow, or at least, the leaves were as stiff as bone. The so called leaves were also a pastey white like the rest of the surface.

"Alright Ralik, here's the deal. When we land, I'm going to go on foot to try and make contact with the quarians. If all goes well, we'll bring them aboard and get out of here before the geth come back to say hi. If not. . . Well, I'll improvise."

"And me?" Ralik questioned.

"Stick to the plan," Kevin answered. "This ship needs to be ready for dust off at a moment's notice. If something goes wrong. . ."

Kevin removed his view from the piloting console for just a moment to look Ralik in the eye. It was clear to Kevin that Ralik was attempting to ready himself mentally. It was a small mission, but things could easily go very wrong.

"You need to get whoever makes it back, out. Whether none of us do or all of us. Primary objective is getting the Kellius out in one piece, next comes rescue."

"Understood," Ralik confirmed. "I fully expect the geth will start at us sooner or later, though."

"Right, and we haven't got a whole lot in terms of firepower. Just get out of orbit and hit FTL."

"Remind me again why we're risking our necks for a bunch of quarians?"

Kevin couldn't help but let a smile cross his features. "Just focus on the Kellius, Ralik. I'll worry about the quarians."

"You aren't earning points in the empathy department," Ralik calmly said.

Right on cue, the pillar of smoke denoting the source appeared on the horizon behind some small mountains and tall hills. Kevin now needed to find a place to land that might best cover the ship from view or scans. Kevin had to revert to staring out the viewports for this task, as the surface and supposed vegetation did not properly show up on his console, making finding a level spot difficult.

"There!" Ralik shouted, pointing to a small valley between sharp mountains.

The spot looked big enough for the Kellius to lower into, and the valley seemed to head right down to where the smoke was coming from. Kevin initiated the surface landing sequence and set the ship to hover just above the level valley so he could get a good look at it before landing.

Unfortunately, what Kevin and Ralik discovered was that the valley was not quite flat. It was loaded with a grove of the stiff tree-like vegetation. Fortunately, there was a spot near the rear of the Kellius that lacked the trunks to these trees, and was just covered by the branches and outcroppings. Additionally, the semi-open shape was nearly perfect for the Kellius to make it through. Unfortunately, the shape wasn't as perfect as Kevin would like, and it made landing a nail-biting challenge. Fortunately, the trees did indeed bend as the Kellius pushed passed the ones around the outside of the opening. Kevin likened them to thick rubber trees rather than bone stiff ones. Unfortunately, there was a violent and loud crunch as something crumpled underneath the weight of the Kellius. Ralik and Kevin winced at each other after hearing that, hoping there were no punctures in the hull as a result. Finally, they both then let go of a breath they didn't even know they had been holding during the tense landing.

"Whatever that was, it didn't sound good," Kevin noted as he got up from his seat. "I'm going to suit up. I'll let you know when to lower the ramp."

"Well done," Ralik shouted after Kevin. "We are not dead after all. The rest of the mission should be simple after watching you handle that!"

There was no time for a reply, however. Kevin had more important things to get around to than shutting Ralik down. Again. Ralik sat down at one of the chairs in the bridge to bring up some scans and monitors. It seemed even during a mission like this, Ralik's researcher tenancies could not be curbed. Meanwhile, Kevin sprinted with all haste down the length of the ship to get to his room. Once there, he got into his hardsuit and set the helmet on his head. Once the airtight seal was confirmed with a classic hiss, he clipped his pistol onto his belt. Only now did he recall that he had forgotten to mod his pistol on the workbench Ralik had set up in engineering. Without the phasic mod he bought on Illium, he would be at a serious disadvantage if he ever came up against geth infantry. Geth tended to have stronger than average kinetic barriers, and his premium unmodded pistol would need to make at least three direct hits before a geth was actually exposed.

Kevin turned around in his room and located his knife. He tied the holster to his waist so that the knife was behind him and the handle stuck out sideways to the right. This way he could easily grab it and slice in one fluid motion if ever found that he needed it. In one last move before he left, he gathered an arm-mounted set of pockets so he could bring plenty of extra thermal clips. He knew he would need them before he got back. With everything set, he headed out of his room and down into the cargo hold.

"Alright, Ralik," Kevin called over the suit's internal radio. "Lower the ramp."

"Already? Well well, speedy aren't we? Should be lowering now."

Kevin didn't even wait for the ramp to lower completely and was lunging off the edge by the time it had started to level out. He landed and rolled forward to absorb the impact from the slightly higher than usual gravity of the planet. He pulled his pistol from its holster after he straightened back up and looked around. To his surprise, he found a lot more than rocks and trees.

The entire area within the small valley looked as though it had been converted into a refugee camp. Large metal cargo crates were spread about, clustered into groups among salvaged pieces of whatever ship they landed on. To his far left was the apparent living area where sealed food rations, a few open crates and all manner of makeshift bedding could be found under a variety of thrown together tents. To his far right was a number of tables made of welded pieces of scrap metal. From what Kevin could see, they were used for everything ranging from eating to equipment repair to drawing up plans. Straight ahead in the middle of the camp was several opened crates turned on their side. He could barely make out the outlines of various weapons jutting through the open side. It was whatever they could salvage for usable weapons. An armory of sorts. The only thing missing from the campsite was quarians.

Kevin looked behind him back towards the Kellius to see just what it was they landed on. He saw metal scraps under one of the landing legs, though he couldn't quite confirm what they were beforehand. He made the guess that they landed on a cluster of crates. That was good news. Crates wouldn't have been able to puncture the hull.

Kevin then looked up towards the bridge viewports and gave Ralik a brief salute. "Looks like we landed on their campsite, Ralik."

"Yes, I'm looking at that now. Good thing we landed here and not on some hapless survivors. What was that noise? Can you see what we hit?"

"Looks like we landed on some crates. No biggie. I'm heading to the other end of the valley. Looks like there's a way down to the source of the smoke there."

"Try not to get shot in the face."

"Why Ralik, I'm touched."

"Tick tock, Kevin."

Kevin shook his head and looked above the Kellius. The trees they pushed through had since sprung back and covered the ship with their limbs. At least this would help shield the Kellius from geth sensors. He also noticed that the colors underneath the sun-washed canopy were different. The leaves, long and thin like blades of grass, were a mix of maroon and crimson. The trunks were a greenish brown and their massive roots cracked the porous, white surface. A pleasant addition of color to this otherwise blank world.

Kevin turned back to the campsite and headed towards the armory between him and the other end of the valley. At the very least he could grab something with a higher rate of fire. As he moved, he could hear the familiar distant sound of chaos. Not just any chaos – armed chaos. There was a considerable battle going on out there somewhere, and Kevin had a feeling that was where he was just about to head. He picked up his pace, but stopped suddenly when he heard a _crack_ come from somewhere within his vicinity. His mind had trained itself over the years to focus on a target, but following echoes was hard to do through a helmet. Nevertheless, Kevin's sharpened senses helped him focus on the sound as he slowly moved towards the armory. He also noticed that the reserve of thermal clips in the armory was alarmingly low. Either they grabbed a bunch and ran, were low to begin with, or someone else took them.

Anticipating a geth ambush, Kevin began to gather dark energy to himself for a lethal counter-attack. The intermittent sharp cracking continued as he moved, and he was finally able to zone in on where the target was; it was hidden behind one of the armory crates. The closer he got, the more he noticed sounds other than the cracking. He heard hushed grunts, heavy breathing and mumbling. Clearly this was not geth. Kevin relaxed his stance, but maintained his dark energy reserve for a barrier instead of an attack. Kevin figured that whoever was behind that crate likely thought Kevin was a geth in the same fashion that he did, and he didn't want to be shot. In order to reassure whoever it was behind the crate that he was not hostile, Kevin let the pistol dangle on his finger by the trigger guard and raised his hands up. He created a biotic barrier in front of him and waited for the 'surprise attack'. Instead, he heard a quieted voice.

"Come on. What good are all these weapons if the thermal clip slots are jammed?"

There was one last loud crack and the valley fell as silent as the distant fight would allow. A sigh of preparation was let go beyond the armory crate followed by a mere three seconds of stillness.

Then suddenly a quarian popped up, aiming an assault rifle at Kevin and using the crate both for cover and a support to steady the gun. Kevin waited for the imminent shots, but to his surprise, they never came. The heavy breathing quarian now before him, clad in an armor-covered environmental and a mix of dark orange, gold and maroon colored cloths, stared Kevin down through the sight of the assault rifle. Kevin could see his finger twitching, as if he hadn't decided what was in front of him was to be shot or not.

Kevin, with hands in the air, decided to help him with that.

"I surrender?"


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

The male quarian reluctantly lowered his gun, staring at Kevin as if his very existence was impossible. He used the arm that previously supported the assault rifle to support his own weight as he leaned on the crate decorated with jutting gun stocks. He was breathing heavy as well, no doubt a byproduct of the stress he had likely been enduring since they landed. He didn't stand up straight either, indicating to Kevin that he had likely sustained some sort of injury. He then spoke with a familiar modulation and a mild accent in his voice.

"You. . . You aren't geth. If you aren't geth, then why. . . How. . .?" The quarian shook his head. "Nevermind that. Pointless questions. I am Gunnery Chief Tyr'Garloh of the Migrant Fleet Marines."

Kevin released his high-armed stance and took a few steps forward. The quarian no longer appeared to be confused or afraid of what Kevin might be.

"Kevin Folner. I got your message." He took a brief moment to casually point off into the distance towards the smoke. "I take it things aren't going well."

"Considering all that's happened thus far, I'm surprised we're alive as it is. Quite a few individuals have a lot of thanks coming their way, assuming we get out of this mess alive."

Tyr hauled himself on top of the crate and sat down on a corner that lacked armaments facing away from Kevin. Kevin naturally walked around to talk to the quarian face to face. That's when he saw the wound on Tyr's thigh.

"You've been hit?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah," Tyr replied glumly. "Took a shot while fighting the geth down there. Finished off my kinetic barriers and still had enough punch to go through my armor. Missed the bone, though. I've already applied what we had left for medi-gel and my suit's sealed it off to prevent further infection. I can walk, but I'm not capable of dogging frontline combat until it heals. Or the infection blows over. Whichever comes first."

"So why are you the only one up here?" Kevin looked back towards the other end of the valley. He noticed a myriad of guns scattered about between the armory and the end of the valley where it appeared to take a left down a hill. It looked as though those that had trekked downhill might have dropped the fallen armaments during a hasty relocation to the far end.

"The captain sent me up here to keep watch over the camp after I got shot. I figured she just didn't want me down there to watch in helplessness as our crew got slaughtered by geth. It's because I can't maneuver fast enough for the frontlines and she didn't want to commit me to the deathbeds just yet. Anyways, the only thing up here worth protecting is the distress beacon, and even that's gone now."

Tyr turned to look back at the Kellius and the scraps underneath. Kevin looked around Tyr to see just what it was he was referring to and quickly discovered for himself what the quarian was staring at.

"So that's what we landed on. . ." Kevin said under his breath.

"The way I see it," Tyr continued with a quick point towards the smoke, "the battle ends down there. Either we miraculously exhaust the geths numbers, or we get overrun. Even if we did win, we still have extremely limited supplies and no ship. Or rather, we _didn't. _Extraction? Possible, but difficult."

"Alright," Kevin started. "It's time to evacuate you and your crew. How many are there?" Kevin stepped back and went to lean on one of the many six foot tall blade formations sticking out of the ground.

"Whoa, careful with that," Tyr suddenly blurted out.

"What? You mean this?" Kevin knocked a knuckle against the broad side of the formation he was about to lean on.

"The techs ran some scans on those. They're impossibly dense, and the sharp edges crystallize at near molecular levels. If you lean on that sharp edge, you'll cleave yourself in two." The quarian stood up off of the crate, staggered once and grabbed his rifle. There was a definite urgency in the air, but the need to pass on intel always came first. "They've been both our demise and our savior at the same time."

"How so?" Kevin asked. At this point both he and the quarian slowly started towards the open end of the valley.

"When we crash landed, we hit a couple of them as we skimmed hilltops. We figured they'd snap like trees, but we were wrong. They tore into our hull like it was made of water. The bigger ones cut pieces of the ship off entirely. The biggest remaining piece is the shell at the base of this hill. That's where my shipmates are right now.

"On the flipside, there's a huge amount of smaller ones all over these hills. Going by foot is a danger unto itself. Stepping on one means loss of a foot. It's kept geth ground patrols from finding our campsite here and from finding the path down to the backside of that shell of a ship. Not to mention they can't really drop troops anywhere they want. If they even nick one of those, that's instant death in my book. And to answer your original question, there were a total of thirty-two of us when I was sent up here. Fifteen of those were marines, including myself. The rest. . . Regular civilians and techs."

"So the geth haven't located this area," Kevin summarized. "Good. And I take it there's no way around the ship piece down there?"

"Well, it seemed fortune favored us when it came to this one situation. When the main piece of the ship finally came to rest, it nestled itself right at the base of the only 'safe' path up. The corners crumpled and the ship settled in. It effectively made a perfect blockade and kept the geth from walking right on up. They've been fighting the geth there for almost a day now. Keelah knows they're running out of clips, combat effective bodies and sanity."

At this point they came across a ledge that looked down over the path to where the smoke was coming from. Kevin caught a glimpse of the shell that Tyr was just talking about. What wasn't bored out or destroyed from the landing looked like a classic example of quarian ships – old and discolored. Only now it was smoking in several areas and there were some holes in what was left of the hull where he could still see fires. He looked to the ground and picked up an old sniper rifle from among the guns scattered across the ground.

Kevin used the sniper scope on the rifle to get a better look at the path he would have to traverse in order to reach the other quarians. It wound down right side of the valley and disappeared behind another collection of sharp hills between him and the shell, and which also obscured most of the quarian wreckage from view. As he scanned the path, he caught glimpse of something he was hoping not to see. A geth ground infantry.

"Tyr, you said the geth can't make it to this path right?" Kevin asked, still looking down the scope.

"That's right. Why?" Tyr asked, sounding suspicious.

"Take a look," Kevin said, offering Tyr the sniper rifle.

The quarian marine put his rifle down and took the sniper rifle in his three fingered hands. When he peered into the sniper scope, he scanned the path in a way similar to the way Kevin viewed the hillside. Halfway down, he spotted a geth trooper climbing down the side of one of the adjacent hills and stepping onto the path.

"That bosh'tet!" Tyr shouted. A click was heard as he pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the rifle's thermal clip had been jammed and a shot could not be fired. He handed the sniper rifle back to Kevin while placing the other hand over the small light at the base of his helmet.

"If the geth know of this path and have found a way to get to it, then it's only a matter of hours, if that, before the geth get in the backside and flank our remaining forces. In short, we're out of time."

"Are you a good shot, Tyr?" Kevin asked.

"I've taken my share of heads off, sure."

Kevin quickly and violently replaced the thermal clip in the sniper rifle and shoved the gun back into Tyr's hands.

"Then cover me."

"What? Where are you going?" Tyr shouted after Kevin.

Kevin bent down and picked up an assault rifle from the ground. This one, like all the other guns he had seen up here at the camp was an older model. It could still take geth down, but it might take a few more shots to do it.

"I'm going to go say hi to your captain."

Tyr sighed and tapped on his omni-tool a few times before radioing to Kevin.

"I'm sending you the encryption to our comms channel so you can monitor what's going on. Don't say anything until you've met with the captain, understand? You're an HVI, a high value individual. If the geth are listening in, we don't want them knowing you've arrived."

"Gotcha," Kevin replied as he started down the winding path while putting a new thermal clip into his rifle. He set up the new comms channel on his suit so that he could hear what was to be heard and moved with as much haste as his legs would allow going downhill. It wasn't long before he was coming up to the solitary geth heading down the path. As he approached the geth soldier from behind, he found that the geth still hadn't noticed his presence. Kevin opted to save his clips in this case and ran right up behind the synthetic enemy. By the time the geth had noticed that someone was approaching from behind, it was too late. A swift blade carved its way into the cables and parts surrounding the 'neck'. Sparks went flying, sounds of failing geth electronics could be heard and the body fell limp and uncontrolled to the ground.

Kevin sheathed his knife and continued on down the path. The sound of military chaos grew louder with each step. Occasionally he would hear the unmistakable sound of a mass accelerator sniper rifle go off a few times, followed by a geth body falling comically to the ground from the hills surrounding the sunken path on which he trekked. Once he followed the path around the hill a bit, the full view of the battleground came into sight.

It seemed he was only one quarter the way down the hill. From here he could see the whole shell, but he couldn't see much inside. Aside from numerous tears and breaks in the hull, the rest was as intact it could be after a groundside impact. On the other side of the shell was an area of nearly flat terrain surrounded in the distance by more hills and craggy mountains. Haphazardly scattered about the flat area was an innumerable amount of shiny specs – geth corpses that had been laid to rest by the quarians holding out inside the ship.

There were also a few much larger corpses spread about the battlefield. They didn't look like the typical colossus or armature class geth he had seen in the past. They actually looked more like small sized geth dropships used to bring infantry to the place of conflict. The geth that were still active used the huge smoking husks for cover while they attempted to reach the quarian ship. This thought was confirmed when a geth dropship matching the configurations of the ones on the ground approached from the far side of the battlefield and dropped about eight fresh geth soldiers behind one of the wrecks with a quick set of distant thuds. Both sides were exchanging quite a bit of fire. This was obvious by the illuminated trailing lines of fired projectiles No one, synthetic or organic, would survive for very long down there in that no man's land. Suddenly, a female quarian voice sounded over the encrypted channel.

_"Captain, we have sniper fire coming from the hills behind us!"_

_ "It's probably Garloh. Guess he couldn't keep to his orders after all,"_ a male quarian said.

_"Garloh, what in Keelahs name are you doing?"_ Another female. Kevin recognized this voice from the distress signal. It was the captain.

_"Just thought I'd help, ma'am,"_ Tyr said rather nonchalantly.

_"I told you to watch the camp, not shoot geth down here! Get back to your post!"_

_ "With all due respect, ma'am"_ Tyr countered, _"This is more important than watching an empty __camp."_

There was no argument from the captain this time. Apparently she got the hint that something was up.

There were a few more shots from Tyr and another synthetic body fell down the subtle walls of the path to Kevin's left. To his right, however, he heard steps from above. He looked up to see a geth coming down at him, pulling out an unfolding pulse gun. Kevin stopped and braced the stock of his rifle against his body before unleashing a barrage of mass effect propelled pellets at his attacker. By the time the geth had his rifle out and ready to fire, several shots had already bounced off its kinetic barriers. It had enough time to make one unaimed shot at Kevin before its barriers failed and allowed a few more shots to fatally shower the unprotected synthetic underneath. The one shot the geth let loose fell harmless at Kevin's feet.

Kevin didn't even wait for the geth to come crashing down to the path before he was already moving on. The geth knew now that a new player was on the field, and Kevin couldn't waste any more time. He kept his eyes up now, anticipating more geth troops to come over the hills. Most were taken out by Tyr, and the occasional one to make to the path met a quick demise at the hands of Kevin. Finally, after a trek that was longer than the deceitful path visually told, the rear entrance to the shell came into view.

The door didn't look so much like a door as much as it looked like it was a rounded rectangle cut out of the hull and then placed back on with a handle and hinges. Kevin pressed his back against the hull next to the door and waited a moment to catch his breath. He pounded on the door three times, hoping that someone would notice and come to open. Instead, he heard footsteps above him. He flicked his head skyward to see an armored female quarian standing in a tear in the hull above him, assault rifle poised to take him out. In place of the shots, however, he heard a female quarian over the comms channel.

_"It's. . . It's a human?"_

_ "Let him in, now!"_ Shouted the captain.

The quarian disappeared from the hole in the hull and within the minute, the door next to him let out a few clanks before slowly opening with a deep groan. Kevin immediately ducked inside and the door was shut and locked behind him. Now that he was inside, the atmosphere of the battle around him changed rather dramatically. Instead of just watching two sides battle it out from above, now he was witnessing a bunker holding out against an oncoming force for their very lives. Kevin had to wait a moment for his eyes to adjust as it was very dim inside despite the blinding nature of the sun against the white washed terrain. Expectedly, the noise inside was louder than it was outside. The sound of all manner of weapons firing echoed endlessly throughout the ship, and the sound of incoming shots hitting and ricocheting off of walls and metal only made it worse. Every now and again a hallway would flash as it was illuminated by sparks resulting from the aforementioned incoming fire.

The quarian who locked up the door – who was holding an assault rifle in one hand and had a huge, heavily modified rocket launcher strapped across her back – approached Kevin with the obvious intent on asking him questions. Kevin stopped that before it could begin by bringing an index finger up in front of the quarian and asking about what he needed to find. He had to shout in order for his voice to be heard above the ambient conflict.

"Who's in charge here?" he asked.

The quarian surprisingly didn't hesitate to give him an answer, albeit in the same loud manner.

"You'll want to see Captain Kortel. She's at the front of the shell. You'll need to take this hallway to the end and take a left followed by a right into a large room. You should see her on a level up overlooking the flats."

Kevin nodded in thanks and immediately turned to follow the directions given to him. Before he could get anywhere, though, his arm was grabbed to get his attention and he stopped. He looked to the quarian to see what else she had to say, knowing time was short.

"Keep your head down, human! We've already lost too many to the incoming stray fire!"

"Dually noted, thanks," Kevin replied as the girl ran off to return to her post.

Kevin once again turned to head down the hallway, but this time he moved a bit slower and a bit lower to the ground. As he moved, he observed his surroundings. He had never been in a quarian ship before, destroyed or otherwise. If there was one word to describe it so far it was the word cramped. It wasn't just the fact that the entire place was a complete mess from the crash, but rather the fact that the hallways and rooms were small to begin with. He also noted that the ship must have come to rest upside down, as the doors to the adjacent rooms and hallways connected flush to the ceiling rather than the floor. Most of the rooms he had passed so far were either empty or a chaotic mess from the crash, and all seemed to lack doors of any kind. Occasionally he would pass by a room that looked as though it had been repurposed from something with function to a stockpile for materials. Whether it was useful items or refuse he couldn't tell.

As he neared the end of the hallway, the intensity of the battle grew. He could hear more incoming shots, see more flashes and the ambient noise grew in volume. The moment he took the left at the end of the hallway, the reality of where he was changed once again. He went from being behind the frontlines to being _on_ the frontlines. The room immediately to the left of the open doorway was larger than the others, and had several quarians occupying it – all of which were in some manner of makeshift bedding. Kevin deduced that this is where the quarians injured beyond combat effectiveness went. He was almost surprised to find that there were no doctors or medical supplies anywhere in the room. They must have exhausted their surviving stock. With that in mind, Kevin changed his perception of the room. It wasn't a forward med-bay. No. It was a room full of deathbeds.

Some of the quarians looked over at him. They didn't make much for noise that could be heard over the sound of gunfire, and Kevin couldn't even tell if they were glad to see him or not. Their masks prevented almost any emotional read. After a brief moment of looking at the out of place human in the room, the quarians, one by one, laid their heads back down. Just by looking at them Kevin could see their grave injuries. He knew that antibiotics wouldn't stop those infections, and he knew others thought the same way. He spent no more time lingering in this grim room. He had even less time than he initially thought.

There was one more room on his left before the first right that the girl mentioned. For some reason inexplicable even to himself, Kevin looked inside the hardly lit room whose door was flush on both ceiling and floor. This scene was even more grizzly than the last. Quarian bodies, suit and all, laid heaped and scattered around the room. Some had obvious fatal injuries, some were missing limbs, and some were just a meaty, bloody mess. The floor was coated in a film of congealing quarian blood which had begun to seep out into the hall he was in. From the look of the swipe marks on the floor just outside the doorless entryway, the blood had already been swept back into the room on multiple occasions. That was most likely to prevent the floor in the hall from becoming slick during the firefight. It was the frontline morgue, and there were more bodies in here than could be accounted for in Tyr's count of how many were alive when he left.

Moving on, the doorway to the room on the right he was instructed to go to was just ahead. As soon as he turned inside, he could tell this was where all the action was taking place. Holes dotted the outer wall and the ceiling was missing for about three or four decks. There was enough floor remaining on each deck – perhaps three quarters of a meter – along the outside walls so that one could carefully move along the catwalk-style walkway and engage the enemy through the rifts torn into the hull. Each deck was connected on opposite ends of the room via hand-made ramps going from deck to deck. Kevin spotted multiple quarians bunkered down on various decks along the outer wall, firing out at the geth who were no doubt on the approach. One was frantically, yet carefully traveling between them all, desperately trying to ration out thermal clips and food to those tasked with holding the line. Stray fire was coming in from more than one direction, causing sparks to fly just about anywhere Kevin looked. There was a lot of shouting not being done over the comms channel, and though it was incoherent to Kevin's ears above the gunfire, he knew it was military related information.

Before he even had a chance to fully scope out the environment, he spotted a spray of blood come from one of the two quarians on the next deck up. The one that was shot staggered backwards and fell down to the floor Kevin was on. Though the difference in height between the two decks was not substantial, the quarian fell directly on his or her head with a sickening crunch. If he wasn't dead before, he was surely dead now. Kevin instantly feared that his chance to talk with the captain had vanished in that instant. Not more than a few seconds later, he heard the announcement of the quarian's death over the comms channel.

_"Haathah is down! Haathah is down!"_

Simply looking at the quarians to determine their rank was impossible from here. They all looked like armored quarians with various colored cloths wrapped tightly around their environmental suits. Fortunately, there was now only one quarian on the next deck up firing out at the geth, so finding the captain wouldn't be an issue. Getting to her without taking a shot was a different issue entirely. The ramp to the second deck, which was made of piled up debris, was on the far side of the large room and the first floor was a veritable no man's land similar to the flats due to all the incoming fire. To Kevin's relief, however, there was a groove in the floor normally used for lighting which was barely wide enough for one person to duck into that ran from his side of the room to the far side. While it was a cramped walk, it was far safer than simply trying to cross the bottom floor on foot. If he didn't have a helmet on, he would swear that his hair was getting singed off from all the close-call shots that passed right over his head as he made his way through the convenient trench.

Now that he was well into the bunker situation, the feeling of a desperate military hold out set in a bit more firmly. It reminded him of some bad times his squad fell into back in the year he was in the Alliance military, and it brought a lot of boot camp-learned discipline to the surface. He picked up his pace just a bit and made more calculated steps as he climbed the ramp and began to make his way across the catwalk to where the perceived quarian captain was gunning from. Unfortunately, she was using a thick portion of hull between two open tears as cover, and Kevin had to cross one to get to her. The hole was low enough to the catwalk in some areas that he had to crawl in order to avoid exposing himself, and it was a good thing he did. As he crawled, a small number of shots nicked the edge of the hole above him, causing a few sparks to roll down over his suit and onto the floor he crawled on. Soon enough, though, he was across and pressing his back against the cover much in the same way as the quarian next to him did between firing sessions. He did his best to not knock over a short stack of unused thermal clips that sat between him and the captain.

"Captain Kortel, I presume?" Kevin asked in opening.

The quarian captain ceased her firing, sat back against the wall and took a quick breather before turning her head to greet the newcomer.

"So you're the HVI Garloh was covering? Glad to see you made it here without getting shot."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted by a geth pulse bolt hitting the edge of the open hole where the captain was just previously shooting from, causing them both to suddenly duck out of reflex.

"I have a lot of questions about why you're out here," the captain said, "but we have more important things to worry about. Namely, why are you on my ship?"

"I just heard you could use a ride," Kevin all too calmly replied.

The captain took another moment to lean over and fire another burst of shots, stopping just short of having to eject her thermal clip.

"So you have a ship, then?" she asked, sounding both relieved as mush as surprised. "Where is it?"

"Back at your camp. I have someone inside ready to get us out of here the moment we're aboard."

The quarian paused to make sure she fully understood was she was being told. "Thank Keelah! You've made this captain's day." The quarian captain activated her comms channel and called out to some of the others in the ship.

"Welkas! Rolush!"

_"Ma'am?"_ two males simultaneously replied.

"Double back to the camp and start loading our surviving cargo onto the ship you'll find there."

_"There's a ship, ma'am?"_ one of the two asked, obviously shocked to hear that there was any ship at all.

"Get moving!" the captain ordered. "I don't need you two arguing orders too!"

_"Sorry ma'am. On our way."_

"Garloh," the captain once again called out, "As you heard, two will be coming up the path to the camp. It is now your job to make sure that path is clear, understand?"

_"Understood, ma'am,"_ Tyr replied, as calm as ever.

It was now Kevin's turn to radio in.

"Ralik, this is Kevin. There will be two quarians arriving at the camp shortly. Their job is to load whatever cargo they can onto the ship. Make sure the ramp is down."

_"Will do, Kevin,"_ Ralik said. _"So they're actually alive down there?"_

"Yes," Kevin replied, almost irritated at such a comment. "Some of them, at least. And I'd like to keep it that way."

"What's your name, human?" the captain asked.

"Kevin Folner."

She looked down at the assault rifle Kevin was carrying with him. "Can you shoot that thing, Folner?"

"Military trained, ma'am." Kevin found himself denoting her authority even though she wasn't his captain. Stranger still, it didn't bother him as much as he'd have thought.

"Good, because I just lost two gunners and you're their replacement. Get on a window and start providing covering fire." As soon as she finished giving him orders, she turned to start shooting out of the window again and the intensity of the firefight was back up to where it was before Kevin had arrived.

It had been a long time since Kevin had been given orders and simply expected to follow them. Those years working as a mercenary had dulled his senses to what authority actually was. This, however, was no time to play the rogue soldier. They all had to work together in order to get out of this alive, and he had no intention of disrupting how things went. He shimmied over to the tear he had to crawl under before and started using that as his firing window.

For the first time since he'd arrived, he got a good look at the battlefield as the defenders saw it. Multiple geth approached in the distance, all firing blindly at the structure they perceived as a threat. He could see the blue-tinted tracer bolts from the geth pulse rifles fly by him and hit the hull somewhere on the outside or make it through to the inside. Suddenly he found himself with a lot of questions about these tactics. He knew the geth weren't the most militarily strategic species in the galaxy, but this approach made no sense to him. He didn't have time to ponder this now, though, and he took aim through the sight of his rifle and fired a few burst rounds. At this range, he wasn't likely to place most, even some of his shots on a geth, but he could quickly see what strategy the quarians were using to take the geth out with minimal shots.

They each took turns firing on certain geth out in the open in order to at least nick at the kinetic barriers of each individual geth soldier. As long as they were taking fire, their barrier systems would have no chance to recharge. Eventually each geth would take one or two fatal hits after being constantly shot at from numerous sources. Additionally, the quarians fired in sequence. Some fired while others waited. This helped prolong the use of each thermal clip so that they would have extras if they encountered a moment when they weren't able to stop firing before the clip had to be ejected. Once Kevin picked up on these strategies, he followed suit.

After several more minutes of this style of fighting, the number of attacking geth finally dropped down to zero. He heard one of the quarians yell something about a break in the geth's numbers. Or maybe it was something about being able to take a break. Either way, Kevin took this moment to move back over to the captain so they could talk more. He saw the other quarians moving around as well. The one distributing clips and food was gone now, likely having been one of the two that went back to the ship. The remaining quarians first tasked themselves with gathering clips from the one they called Haathah before moving his body to the morgue that Kevin got a look at earlier. Once that was finished, they moved over to where the food and clips to be distributed were, and divvied up the remains amongst the survivors. One of them called up to the captain and tossed several clips up to her.

"Why have the geth stopped?" Kevin asked the captain.

"One of their recent strategic developments. It's their way of finding out how well armed we still are. Within the next few minutes, you will see a small dropship fly in very close. There are no troops in it at all since its purpose is to see if it will be shot down. If it is, then that means we'll simply shoot down any loaded dropships that get close and they have to continue supplying troops out beyond our range. If not, then I expect a full on close range drop and assault. They'll attempt to breach and take us out from within."

"Why haven't they just bombarded the site? Why waste all these resources?"

"I haven't quite figured that out yet," she admitted. "It's almost as if they are fighting us while we hold something of high value to them, but I can't think for the life of me what that might be. Either way, it's saved our lives so I don't spend too much time trying to figure it out."

Kevin nodded. That might explain the lack of colossus use as well. If they can't drop them in close, then they're simply big targets out in the distance. Even their armaments can't punch the hull of a ship from there.

Suddenly the hum of a dropship was the only thing that could be heard. The quarians all scattered, heading back to their positions and the captain called out to yet another quarian in the ship.

"Merni?"

_"In position, ma'am."_ It sounded like the quarian that greeted Kevin at the door. It would make sense considering the massive armament she had on her back.

Kevin looked outside the closest hole in the hull to see what was going on. Just like the captain said, a geth dropship was flying in closer than the others did. It hardly got the chance to hover in place for more than a second before the loud pop of a launched explosive projectile echoed around the bunker. Within the second, a smoke trail pointed out the fired projectile as it blatantly ignored kinetic barriers and met the broadside of the dropship. Flames instantly but briefly engulfed the ship, and what was left was definitely damaged beyond repair. It rocked violently in place, and the hum – once it was audible after the explosion – fluctuated. Soon after that it quickly sank to the surface and erupted once again on impact, joining its destroyed brethren on the planet's surface.

"The thing about this strategy," the quarian next to Kevin started to explain, "The more downed dropships there are, the more cover the geth have to get in closer. It's like we're slowly killing ourselves while we prevent immediate defeat. Depressing, huh?"

"A wonderfully positive attitude, captain," Kevin sarcastically replied.

"A wonderfully positive attitude can make you blind," she noted. "We've all resigned ourselves to death already, with the intention of making the geth's losses equally as great. Then you showed up."

"I always did make a great entrance," Kevin stated.

"I hope you can make just as great an exit."

_"Here comes the next wave, ma'am!"_ A yet unknown female quarian announced.

"Ready yourself. They always start with two dropships. It's the toughest part of the wave," the captain said as she brought her rifle up to the window. "I hope you brought thermal clips."

Just then, two dropship fell in altitude in the distance and lined themselves up behind old wrecks of other dropships. Each one shot out eight geth troopers down to the surface with the resulting thuds sounding like distant pops from a vehicle mounted mass accelerator.

"Ready for my mark. . ." the captain ordered. It seemed they had this geth shooting business down to a science. They waited for the distant geth to appear from around the wrecks and start their approach across the open ground.

"Fireteams two and three start your rounds. . . Now!" She announced. Immediately the silence in the air was gone and gunfire took its place.

"What team am I?" Kevin asked the captain.

"Two and three."

"That figures," Kevin said as he began firing.

This round was a bit different than the last. The geth were moving in at a new angle now since the dropship they just shot down landed closer than the others. More shots were actually aimed rather than just simply shot at the structure. This caused each of the quarians and Kevin to duck behind cover more often, disrupting the sequential flow of fire. The geth made it much closer this time, but in the end the initial push was destroyed. Once the normal flow of geth started to pour in around the closest downed ship, the fireteams had started to regulate their shot sequences with the additional time for cover figured in. When all was said and done, that wave had lasted a good half an hour. Finally another break in the constant and seemingly controlled chaos came about.

While everyone moved to gather what was left of the thermal clips, a message from the two up at the camp came in.

_"Captain Kortel, this is Rolush."_

"Tell me everything is all set up there, Rolush," the captain said anxiously.

_"We have a problem!"_

"You know I don't like problems, Rolush. What is it?"

_"The geth blind-dropped a colossus on our camp!"_

All of the quarians stopped dead in their tracks and looked up to captain Kortel. This was very, very bad.

_"Almost all of the cargo is loaded. Just a few more crates to go. We had to pull those crates over for cover. We're with Garloh right now on the wrong side of the valley."_

"What's the status of the colossus?" the captain asked, voice calm and calculating.

_"It landed on an outcropping and took major damage to one of its legs. All it can do is turn in place slowly. The real issue is that it's focusing its fire on the ship, and if we try to get to it we'll be gunned down within seconds. What should we do?"_

The captain took a moment to think. The timing of this couldn't have come at a worse moment. She looked over to the quarian bearing the massive launcher and called up to Rolush.

"I'm sending Merni to assist. Cover her approach and take that bosh'tet down."

"But captain, the dropships-" Merni started in protest, but was suddenly cut off by her captain.

"We'll handle the dropships. You handle the colossus. That's our _only_ way out of this mess, Merni. We'll evacuate the moment that thing goes down."

It was clear Merni wanted to hesitate, but she didn't. "Yes ma'am. On my way."

"Ralik," Kevin called to his ship as the quarian started out of the room.

_"I assume you've heard?" _Ralik asked.

"Yes. Can the kinetic barriers hold for a few more minutes?"

_"Perhaps. Those big projectiles hit hard. Tell me you have a plan for this, because I can't face the ship's cannon at it."_

"We have a plan, Ralik. Hold tight."

Right then, they all heard the sound of a geth dropship hovering in close. Everyone looked at each other for a moment before scattering back to their gunning position.

"New plan, people," the captain announced. "We all need to make sure we have the ability to change position quickly. You must be ready to evacuate on my order whether the colossus is down or not. That means no high positions unless you have a clear – and I mean clear – path to the back."

"What about the injured?" Kevin asked.

"Don't talk to me about the injured right now."

Kevin bit his tongue. It was obvious she knew what had to be done, and that meant the injured couldn't come along. He could tell in her tone of voice that she wasn't happy about the outcome for them at all, and that she alone was the decision maker for that outcome. He wasn't one for leaving injured combatants behind, and even less for leaving injured civilians, but these were not his people. Instead of voicing his opinion, however, he simply nodded. She was their captain after all, not his.

They all bunkered into their new positions and pocketed any stacks of thermal clips that remained. Most of them lined up on the second deck wall with the captain and Kevin where they could easily get a shot at geth that dropped right in front of them. A few took positions in the back on a higher deck where they could drop out onto the back path through a tear on the backside. Any minute now they would be facing a close ranged assault that they knew they couldn't win. The hum of the empty dropship hovering over them was like a mocking reminder of that, and it only seemed to get louder. And louder.

And louder.

"Three dropships inbound!" someone shouted.

"Steady!" the captain shouted. "This is why we are Migrant Fleet Marines! Wait for my mark!"

Suddenly the thuds of multiple geth troops hitting the ground right outside the hull caused the ground to shake. Kevin drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. Things were about to get ugly real fast. Once the thuds stopped, the captain gave the order to start the counterattack.

"Lets bring the pain, marines! Fire at will and don't let them reach this ship!"

All at once, everybody at a forward position jumped up and brought a rain of death upon the geth who had just happened to be within the area of fire. Most fell, but enough remained to hold the position and fire back at those above, causing Kevin and those at the front to duck for cover before their kinetic barriers were drained. That submissive position was short-lived, however, as nobody wanted the geth to gain enough of a foothold to start breaching the damaged parts of the hull at ground level. There was a short exchange of fire before the last remaining geth of the initial drop fell.

Unfortunately the sound of more incoming dropships filled the air and a new set of geth troops were already being dropped as the first set fell. Kevin and the others knew that there would be no quarter from here on, so they focused fire on the unfolding geth hoping to take some out before they could pull out weapons. When the survivors of the set unfolded, weapons were immediately drawn and fired. Kevin's barrier had nearly been depleted, so he had to duck down again until they could recharge. Fortunately most of the other quarians could still take some fire before ducking behind cover, so the suppressive fire hadn't quite ceased.

Kevin decided to take this time to gather dark energy to himself. He'd supplement his suit's weak barriers with a biotic barrier to keep himself in the fight longer. After his kinetic barriers were replenished, he threw his biotic barrier around himself and jumped back up to get more shots on the geth. When he could see over his cover again, he realized just how short this battle was going to be. The number of geth they faced had doubled since he went down for cover. He wasted no time in letting loose a full barrage from his rifle, ejecting a clip and continuing. He saw his biotic barrier taking hits, but he knew it would take more than a couple shots to take it down.

"They're starting to breach! Directly below!"

"Wait, I have this one!" Another quarian shouted, jumping up and tossing something over the edge where it sank down to the geth multitude. "Bela says hi!"

There was a large explosion below them and a brief curtain of flame rose up outside the holes in the hull. It was no more than a second later that everyone was up shooting again. The goal was to hold them off as long as possible, and so far they were doing pretty well at it. Unfortunately, as soon as the geth below them were destroyed by the grenade, the dense crowd behind them filled in the space. One of the quarians took up a slightly higher position and began to shoot down on the crowd where the rest couldn't hit. He had to duck for cover pretty soon though, as the geth quickly noticed his location and opened fire, nearly getting through his barriers. These back and forth exchanges just kept on going.

There was a pop from outside and Kevin saw a smoke trail heading up towards where the other quarian took up a new position. The explosive made it through the ruptured hull and hit the wall behind the quarian. The resulting explosion tore through his already depleted shields and his armor while sending him crashing down to the ground floor below. Merely seconds later his death was announced.

"Heads up, marines. Nulor just got taken out by a rocket!"

"Rocket class? Keelah help us," captain Kortel said.

"They're breaching again, and I think we're out of grenades!"

"New positions, people!" the captain called out. "Prepare to counter the breach as long as we can before we evac out the back door!" With that said, she dropped her last grenade out the firing window and jumped down to the first floor.

Everyone on that same catwalk followed suit down a floor and bunkered themselves just inside the exiting hallway, using the brief lull in the attack the grenade had granted them to their advantage. As it was quickly becoming expected, it wasn't long before the geth resumed cutting their way through the weakened hull at the base. Sparks and a trailing lined of molten hull signaled their progress. Within the minute, they had breached through completely and the cut out portion fell back into the ship. Quickly following that was a near constant stream of geth troops filing into the previously secure holdout. Within that moment, everyone started firing on the increasing volume of geth soldiers.

Kevin had to back up past the morgue to take up a new position, and the only cover here was the doorless entry to the room with the deathbeds. He, the captain and one other male quarian took position here. Much to their dismay, however, several of the injured picked their heads up to look at them as they stood there. Neither Kevin, nor the captain, nor the third quarian could help but notice. Oh how distracting it was to have those doomed to their deathbeds staring at them as they retreated.

"Folner, Votis, hold here a moment. Keep providing cover fire." The captain broke off from her defensive position to go talk to the injured in the room.

The people guarding the entrance to the hallway had to fall back. As they did, a rocket entered into the hallway, threatening to take everyone out in one blow. One of the quarians, who seemed to have already been shot in the side chose the warrior's way out and lingered, blocking the path of the rocket. The explosion rocked them all and only one other was taken by the blast, but they effectively saved the rest. As the one remaining in front of Kevin and Votis had backtracked to cover behind them, they resumed stalling the geth advance with more fire.

"Blasted synths," Votis spat, sounding rather enraged. "No captain should ever have to tell her injured that she has to abandon them. It's either stay here and defend them for a few extra minutes and die, or leave them behind in order to save our own hides. I do not envy the captain right now."

The onslaught of geth continued to pour in at them, but with the numbers reduced due to having to file into a tight corridor, they were a bit easier to hold off. At least until the female who had taken cover behind them ran out of thermal clips.

"I'm out of thermals!"

Votis spun around and tossed a thermal clip to her. "Last one, Tavval. Make it last. Captain?"

Right then the captain solemnly stepped out of the room. "Pack it up, we're leaving."

"Yes ma'am," all the remaining combatants replied.

They started their exit by holding the final corner before the long straight hallway back to the door that leads out to the path.

"Tavval!" The captain shouted. "Get that door open on the double!"

"Yes ma'am!" she shouted as she pulled up her sniper rifle and booked it for the door down the hall.

"We need to hold this spot! We aren't going anywhere until we can sprint out that door!" The captain ordered.

Now there was a hallway full of geth bearing down on them and Votis was on his last clip. Kevin dug a clip out of his arm pocket in anticipation of the moment when Votis would need it. A rocket came flying at them, so they all ducked into the hallway and behind the corner they were using for cover. It missed them entirely and continued down the rest of the hallway behind them where it detonated harmlessly. Kevin picked out the rocket class geth among the ever growing group down the hall and took as careful aim as the moment would allow. Shooting down there was like shooting at a wall of kinetic barriers.

"I'm out of clips!" Votis called out, right as Kevin was sighting on the rocket launching geth.

"Here!" Kevin said, tossing the clip he held in his hand over his shoulder.

"Thanks," Votis said, hesistantly. "That tall one on the left is the rocket class geth. If I get its shields down, can you take it out before it fires again?"

"I bet my life on it," Kevin confidently stated as he replaced his own last clip.

Votis began unleashing a fully automatic rain of fire towards that particular geth. He had two geth shields to get through before the destructive geth would be exposed. Votis' rifle would not be denied, however, and the kinetic barriers of both the rocket launcher and the geth in front of it were downed. Taking this moment to aim, Kevin shot several bursts at the target, and was pleasantly surprised when both heads exploded in a shower of sparks from the volleys.

_"Door's open! Come on, this party's over. Let's go!"_

"Run for the door! Go!" the captain called out as they started a sprint for their only exit.

Once they were all outside, Tavval shut the heavy door behind them.

The captain turned around and took a deep breath. "Get this door sealed. I don't want any of them enjoying the view."

"View of what?" Kevin asked.

No one answered him. Instead, Tavval and Votis set to work melting the edges of the door to the edges of the hull with their omni-tools.

"View of what?" Kevin asked once again. Still there was no answer.

"Alright, that's good enough. Let's get out of here." the captain ordered.

They all started their way back up the hill. Despite the fact that Tyr was focusing on the colossus, there were no geth in sight all the way up the hill. That was good news, as that would mean their trek up would be free and clear. To their dismay, however, the fight at the camp with the colossus could still be heard going on, and none of them had much of anything in the way of thermal clips or other means to battle it. To add to that, the sound of a dropship could be heard overhead.

Captain Kortel went to go alert Merni over the comms of the incoming dropship, but she never got the chance; a high-powered rocket was already on its way to greet the dropship from the camp. The explosion was beautiful, and the sight of the loaded dropship crashing into the flats behind them was equally as beautiful.

"She's good," Tavval noted.

"Alright, it's time," the captain stated as she halted her hike and turned around to face the bunker that saved their lives, which was now full of geth troops. She tapped on her omni-tool a few times, waited a moment and then tapped on it again. When she was done, she slowly rose her head to the ship at the base of the hill.

Suddenly the entire thing erupted in a massive explosion. It was so big that the flame rose up into the air and created a classic mushroom cloud and the shockwave knocked all four of them over.

_"No! The captain!"_ Tyr shouted over the radio.

"It's alright, Garloh," Kortel assured. "A few of us made it out alive. We're almost to the camp." She sighed a long sigh and then turned to head up the path. "Let's move."

_"Only a few?" _Rolush rhetorically asked.

As the four survivors from the battle in the ship came up the hill and turned their last corner, their moods were already improving. The first sight they caught of the troublesome colossus were that of its head exploding due to a rocket exploding on its lens. The massive form of the colossus trembled and then collapsed amid its own sparks.

When colossus fell to the ground, it revealed what was right behind it. A magnificent, shiny and most importantly, fully functional frigate. Kevin stepped ahead of the three quarians returning with him and turned around to walk backwards and face them. He put his arms out to his side in introduction and smiled beneath his helmet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you. . ." Kevin started before turning around to face his ship. ". . . The Kellius!"

Rolush, Garloh, Merni and Welkas were already cheering from having taken down a colossus, but now Votis and Tavval joined in with them at having actually been saved. They all even used the comms channel to transmit their victory, and Kevin couldn't help but smile despite all that had just happened. The surviving quarians were very, very happy to see that ship.

"Alright, alright," the captain said, now in a much more cheery tone compared to the uphill trek, "Welkas, Rolush, let's get the last few crates on the Kellius and get out of this nightmare."

"Yes ma'am!" Welkas and Rolush answered in tandem, still half cheering.

As they got to work, Kevin lead the rest of the quarians onto the Kellius via loading ramp. The cargo bay was now full almost so much that there was almost no room to walk. The two that loaded the cargo clearly thought ahead, though, since there was a path right down the center comfortably wide enough for one person. Kevin lead them right up to the first deck and towards the front of the ship where they could either sit down at the briefing table or accompany him to the bridge where Ralik was still sitting. All but the captain and Tavval decided to sit at the table.

"Nice frigate you've got here, Folner," Kortel admitted. "Looks brand new."

"I like to keep it well maintained," Kevin replied.

"Where's the crew?" Tavval asked.

"You're looking at it," Ralik responded as he spun his chair to be visible to the others.

Kortel leaned back and folded her arms in disbelief. "Just you two?"

"Well there's also-" Kevin started, only to be cut off by none other than his favorite assistant.

"Alert. Kevin, there are multiple unknown alien life forms aboard the ship."

"-Terra. The ship's VI and systems control in times of need. Terra, all of these life forms are quarians, and they are allowed aboard."

"Would you like to construct profiles-" This time Kevin cut Terra off, in an almost intentional fit of revenge.

"Later. Right now we need to go before more geth show up. Ralik, if you don't mind?"

"I do mind, Kevin," Ralik snapped with impressive amounts of serenity. "But I also agree. See? Here they come."

All four of the people on the bridge looked out through the viewports and saw more geth troops turning the corner on the far end of the valley.

"Well aren't they persistent," Kevin grumbled. "See if you can give them a little thruster surprise, Ralik."

"With pleasure," Ralik replied with a growing smirk.

The Kellius then activated the mass effect drive core and started to lift off. Downward thrusters lifted the ship away from the surface before the whole ship started to spin. It turned one hundred and eighty degrees and angled the nose up in preparation for leaving the planet. Ralik waited in that position patiently, though. Soon the geth started to gather behind the ship, firing pointlessly at it. Just a moment later, when Ralik was satisfied with the number of geth that had gathered, he punched on the thrusters. The obscene amount of heat generated by the ship's thrusters scorched the surface, destroyed trees and nearly vaporized any and all geth unfortunate enough to gather behind the Kellius. At the same time, the frigate jetted off towards open space, away from planet L2588 and away from the geth.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

"Captain Kortel, what should we be setting for a destination?" Kevin asked, turning from the viewports to face her.

"Hmm." Kortel paused to think a moment. "Normally I'd say to drop us off on a station for pickup, but. . . This crew has endured enough. Set a course for the Raheel-Layya system within the Valhallan Threshold."

"Captain!" Tavval called out in protest.

"Not now, Tavval. We don't have much for supplies as it is," the captain replied.

"I take it we're going. . ." Kevin mentioned, stopping himself just short of making his guess.

"Yes," the captain answered, "we're going right to the Migrant Fleet."

"That takes us _away_ from the An'Ramini expanse, Kevin," Ralik reminded. His statement was promptly corrected by an armored slap on the back of his head courtesy of his shipmate.

"What, you thought I was serious? Yes yes, course is laid. We're changing direction now." Ralik shook his head and stood from the pilots chair.

Without further ado, the salarian made his way to a seat surrounding the briefing table in order to join the growing party back there. Now that Rolush and Welkas had arrived, all but Kevin, the captain and Tavval were in the briefing room, but that was soon to change. After the remaining three joined the group in the briefing room, the captain slapped her hands together.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any for introductions, hm? Marines, these are our saviors." First she pointed to the salarian. "Ralik. . ."

". . . Dolannus," he said, helping her finish his name since he knew she didn't know the full thing. "Ralik Dolannus. Greetings."

"And you have all have at least seen this one help us out planet-side," the captain mentioned while pointing to Kevin who was only now removing his helmet. "Kevin Folner."

"You have our sincerest gratitude, Mr. Folner," Tyr chimed in as he took a seat to rest his leg.

Kevin didn't say anything, but simply bowed his head in return. Meanwhile, the captain was crossing the room in order to join her compatriots.

"Line up, marines. By rank. Welkas, by me. And for the love of Keelah, don't make Garloh stand up."

As ordered, the quarians all lined up according to rank based on where Tyr was so he didn't have to move. They moved with an organized haste Kevin had never witnessed in quarians before, and it reminded him of the Alliance. When they finished setting themselves in line they stood in order left to right by rank. The first quarian in line was slightly shorter than most of the others, but not the shortest, and he was one of the two that Kevin hadn't already put a name to.

"State your rank and name for the captain of the Kellius," Kortel ordered. The first quarian on the left stepped forward with a practiced stance.

"Serviceman Second Class Kar'Welkas of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" While it wasn't a shout per say, it was louder than a simple casual introduction. He donned a classic exo-suit with a dark-blue helmet face. There was a noticeably smaller coverage of colored cloths covering the gray of his suit, but the aqua, olive and turquoise colors were easily distinguishable. When he was finished, he stepped backwards into line so that captain Kortel could continue.

"Kar'Welkas is fresh off of the Migrant Fleet training regimen. He ended up staying an extra year in training due to his perceived passion for piloting. He was transferred to our ship, the Forverna, to be our pilot for this mission. We primarily have him to thank for getting the ship down as softly as a crash could be. His skills at the helm are more than notable."

Once she finished her introduction of Kar'Welkas, Kortel moved on to the second, and shortest quarian of the bunch. This was the quarian with massive rocket launcher strapped to her back the Kevin had initially met inside the shell. The captain motioned with a hand for her to do as Welkas did and she stepped forward.

"Private First Class Bela'Merni of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" This one's accent was heavier than any other quarian that actually spoke in the common trade language on the ship, but it was still easily understandable. Her exo-suit was more modified than Welkas', having a large number of straps and hooks with dangling gear around her waist and mid-section going to her shoulder in addition to large pockets on the sides of her legs outside of her armor. Consequently, she jingled when she moved. Her cloths were equally bold, as she sported a mix of bright colors. Pale pink and blaring crimson wrapped around her limbs were dominated by the deep and profound blue she wore as a hood and over her torso under the gear. Kevin wondered why such a small quarian was tasked with carrying the largest gear. Kortel began to explain before Kevin could mull on it for long.

"Bela'Merni is, as you likely have guessed by now, our heavy weapons expert. Strangely, she is also the youngest quarian I know of to have such a fascination with such a proficiency. She holds well, though. The Merni clan has generally been well known for maintaining weaponry of a large scale, namely the weapons of various Migrant Fleet vessels, and keeping things like her beloved launcher in good repair. She also likes explosions."

"She's awfully little for that kind of task, isn't she? No offense intended, but wouldn't she tire out easily just from lugging so much gear around?"

Kortel was about to make a statement, but was quickly cut of by Bela.

"I'll fill you in on a little Merni clan adage, Folner. 'Don't judge me by my size, judge me by the size of my gun.'"

Kortel gave Bela a brief stare and the little fireball quieted down. Meanwhile, Kevin turned his eyes to the almost ridiculous contrast of the small quarian and the big gun on her back. He quickly understood why they had such an adage.

"The Merni clan is also well known for having a slight lack in discipline, made up by quite a bit of. . . spark."

"I take it back. Big things in small packages, huh? I bet she's the life of most parties."

Bela shook her head in hardly contained silence while all the other quarians simultaneously chuckled. Kortel also let out a small laugh and moved onto the next quarian, who was the second one that Kevin did not originally know the name of. A simple process of elimination at least told Kevin what this one's clan name was. He found he was right on the money when the next quarian followed the others in due process and announced his name.

"Private First Class Tosh'Rolush of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" This quarian was a bit more clean cut than the others strictly in appearance, though his accent was far less obvious than any of the others so far. His visor was dark - almost appearing to be black, his colors were more of a subdued nature, and the cloths were more formally wrapped. Gray was his dominant color, followed by olive and maroon. He also had items dangling from his armored, pocket-ridden suit, but they were sparsely placed, in much simpler locations and far fewer in number when compared to Bela. They also appeared to be more of a technological nature, rather than offensive paraphernalia.

"Tosh'Rolush is our technology expert," Kortel explained. "While we all have a degree of aptitude dealing with tech, Tosh's abilities far exceed ours in a number of areas. I have never seen anyone – even a quarian – hack and reprogram as efficiently as he can. He's been a part of various missions dealing with geth and other concerns of the quarian people and he's made it a personal goal to better understand the geth's digital makeup. Ship systems and anything of a scientific nature are favorite subjects of his as well."

"If I might be so bold to ask," Tosh stated with a forward step, "will you permit me to examine the Kellius' systems in detail? I might even be able to help you tweak some of the systems or the VI for the better."

"Knock yourself out, Tosh," Kevin replied. He wasn't worried about the quarian snooping into the systems of the ship all that much. Other than the fact that the ship was technically stolen, he didn't have anything to hide. Considering that the reason any of them were alive at all was because he stole the ship, he figured Tosh could easily overlook that.

"I appreciate your open trust, Captain," Tosh said in thanks before stepping back into line to let Kortel continue on. Kevin had thoughts of questioning his sudden promotion to Captain, but he decided to bring that up at a more convenient time.

"Corporal Riik'Votis of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" the next quarian in line stated with a forced enthusiasm that could easily be mistaken for genuine enthusiasm or military stoics. His voice was deep for a quarian, and his accent was just shy of being on par with Bela. This quarian was black and white, literally. Black and white dominated the suit and armor in a slightly menacing fashion with a bit of his third color, turquoise, lining the details of his armor and helmet. Other than that, his suit was surprisingly almost as basic as Kar's, save for a few combat-related additions.

"Riik'Votis is one of our most dedicated fighters. He has a relatively high proficiency with a wider array of weapons, and a stalwart attitude to match. While he technically has no specialty outside of weaponized combat, it should be noted that he dedicated his time as a marine to infantry combat."

Once Kortel finished her explanation, Riik moved back into line without a word. It seemed to Kevin like he was growing impatient. Nevertheless, the next familiar quarian stepped forward – or rather he would, if he were not injured and sitting down – to offer his introduction.

"Gunnery Chief Tyr'Garloh of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" Now that they weren't in the middle of an urgent situation, Kevin was able to notice a few things about Tyr. His cloths, colored dark orange as the dominant color followed by gold and a touch of maroon, appeared to have been recently moved or rewrapped. There were a couple areas where the armor was hardly visible due to being wrapped along with the suit. His armor itself denoted experience. There were plenty of spots where the normal sheen of polished armor were permanently discolored or slightly dented from close calls with enemy fire. It also looked as though he's made no attempt to reverse the visual wear and tear on his armor, though any degradation in its effectiveness from damage appeared to have been tended to.

"Tyr'Garloh has a few roles. He's the leading NCO of our company, our combat strategist and chief of our military inventory. Mostly he lets his subordinates deal with the inventory, as his main role – especially now – has always been our combat strategist. He's seen more combat than most quarians at his rank, and has dealt with numerous situations successfully to get him invaluable experience among our marines. It was his idea to turn the remains of our ship into a bunker stage our 'last stand' there instead of up at our camp as well as stagger our fireteams to conserve clips. I think if we stayed topside, we would not have lasted more than a few hours. Not much of a storyteller though, so don't ask."

"How's the wound doing, Tyr?" Kevin asked as he leaned back on the corner going into the neck of the ship.

"Sealed off and mending, sir. Won't be able to run for a few more days and a light infection is starting in, but considering the crap you just pulled us out of, I'm more than glad to be alive. Luckily there wasn't much for aerial microbes on that planet, so the infection should at least be relatively short-lived."

"Glad to hear it. We have a full med-bay down the hall. Feel free to use it as you see fit."

"Will do, Captain. Thank you again."

Tyr sat back into his chair and adjusted himself to be a bit more comfortable for the rest of the introductions. Fortunately for him, there weren't many left. The last quarian standing in line stepped forward.

"Second Lieutenant Arla'Tavval of the Migrant Fleet Marines!" The first thing Kevin noticed about this quarian was that she had weapon preferences very similar to his. He spotted a pistol on her hip, a knife sheathed on her calf and a sniper rifle collapsed on her back. Her colors were a bit easier on the eyes as well – a deep purple and blue offset by a bit of forest green. She wore a bandolier that was currently empty, but was obviously used to carry extra thermal clips without tying up her suits pockets. It made sense seeing as how sniper rifle mass accelerators tended to go through clips faster than traditional rifles and pistols.

"Arla'Tavval is, other than me, our only surviving officer," Kortel started to explain. "Additionally, she is also our most accomplished marksman and designated sniper. She has deadly efficiency with any long ranged weaponry, usually in the form of sniper rifles. Counter to this, she was our ship's primary hand-to-hand combat instructor. She realized long ago that snipers may often get into close quarters combat situations, so she trained hard in that regard. As a side note, she has never lost a hand-to-hand duel for as long as I've known her."

"Impressive," Kevin said with a nod. This was interesting to him since close quarters combat, or CQC, was also a forte of his due to his. . . profession. There were many times he has had to do his job without the use of guns. That on top of his CQC training from his military days meant he could hold his own in a fight.

"Maybe we'll scrap later so I can see if my hand-to-hand skills are any good," he added

"Tch," was Arla's only reply. It was obvious she wasn't interested in teaching anyone anything right now. She stepped back into line without hesitation to let her captain continue with whatever she had planned next.

"And finally," Kortel said as she stepped into position at the end of the line, "I am Captain Siri'Kortel of the Migrant Fleet Marines." For a captain, Kevin thought she sported some rather droll colors. Pale yellow and light brown detailed with steel didn't make for a flashy leader. Despite this, her armor was a slight step up from the others in appearance. Her pauldrons were carefully etched with a symbol that filled the face of the armor they were etched on. It was something in the quarian's written language, and he could only assume it was what pointed her out as the captain of her crew. Barring this, she had no other discernible difference that could show her position.

"As captain of this crew, I'd like to formally thank you for coming to our aid. Now we at least have some left to tell the story of our friends and family so that they may not be forgotten."

"I'm sure there's a lot we can all talk about," Kevin said. "Maybe over a tour of the ship, or a meal?"

"Perhaps later, captain," Kortel said regretfully. "We have other things to attend first. If you could please show us where the crew normally stays, I would be grateful."

"I can do that," Ralik jumped in. "Need a chance to get away from that helmsman's chair. Right this way."

Ralik stood from his seat and promptly made his exit through the door on the backside of the briefing room. One by one the quarians followed in line behind Ralik and out through the door. When Kar'Welkas was the only one left to exit, Siri called to him.

"Welkas, inform the others that I will be with them momentarily."

"Yes ma'am," Kar replied, nodded and hurried out to fall in line with the others.

When the door shut behind him, the room fell awkwardly silent. Only Kevin and Siri remained in the room now, and Kevin was left wondering why she didn't just follow them out. Before anything was asked or said, she sat down in one of the briefing chairs, put her elbows on the table and rested the front of her helmet in her three-fingered hands. She let out a long exasperated sigh and shook her head.

"Quite a crew you have," Kevin said in encouragement, only to realize afterwards what he really just said and how that might have sounded. He winced at himself and decided to shut up for the moment.

She began to speak without lifting her head from her hands. "That ship held two hundred and thirty two quarians, Kevin. I knew them all. I already miss them all."

"With all due respect, captain, shouldn't you be with your crew right now?" Kevin asked, this time thinking about what he said first.

"I realize you aren't truly a captain, Kevin, so I will explain this to you. As a quarian captain, I am expected to exhibit a certain level of conduct. To be an example to those under me. It is very rare that I am ever in a position where I _do not_ have to maintain that level of conduct. I just lost two hundred and twenty six quarians who trusted me with their lives. I am in need of what you humans call 'a moment'."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

"Don't be, because I'm not. I'm truly thankful that you showed up when you did, though I personally would have preferred a bit earlier. My biggest fear was that the tale of the Migrant Fleet vessel Forverna would be lost to the abyss of unexplored space. At least now we can tell others of those who fought to the very end of their lives for a cause that involves all of the quarian people."

"What were you doing way out here anyways?"

"If I asked you that same question, would you answer me?"

"Probably not until I trusted you more," Kevin said with a growing smile. "Point taken."

Siri sighed heavily once more after a brief lapse in the conversation and then slowly got up from her chair.

"Praying to our ancestors is not really our thing," Siri started, "but we will likely be doing a lot of that tonight. I would like to ask that we not be disturbed for a while. We will grieve, and then we will rest. Those kids have earned at least that much."

"Ill try to keep Ralik under control."

"Thank you, captain."

"And if it's all the same to you guys, I'd much rather you stayed captain and I just stayed Kevin."

"It is your ship, so by protocol you are the captain. Nevertheless, we will work on that as best we can." That said, Siri turned to leave.

"I appreciate it. And one more thing before you go?"

"Yes?"

"I caught some tension from Riik and Arla during the intros. Are they going to be a problem?"

"Riik is very. . . passionate about how quarians are treated. Arla has pride issues. Neither of them trusts humans. Show them that there's no reason not to trust you and you will have resolved half of their reasons for their disposition towards you." Kevin could almost _hear_ the smile on her face as she explained that.

"Great," Kevin said sarcastically.

Siri took this moment to bow her head to Kevin before she turned around and made her way out of the briefing room.

Kevin let out a sigh. Though successful, the extraction did not go nearly as well as he had hoped. Now they were on their way back to the mapped and already explored parts of the galaxy, and he wondered if they would even have the fuel to get back to the melkanis relay now. It looked like his impulsive actions twisted things in the wrong direction again. He decided to apologize to Ralik, but at a later time. He'd let the salarian's disappointment dissipate first. After that, he'd have to figure out how to bring the news to Tarsil.

Kevin was once again faced with a recently recurring issue. What to do next? Between bereavement and sleep, he estimated the quarians would be in do-not-disturb mode for at least ten to twelve hours. There was always more work to be done with the audio logs in his data archive, but he still felt like he had just finished listening to a bunch. If he burned himself out, he'd never want to finish. Amidst all these thoughts, an audible grumble originating from Kevin's innards quickly made the decision on the short term objective. He hadn't used much for biotics during the extraction except for several instances of his barrier, but he didn't eat anything beforehand either. He'd figure out what to do over a nice hot meal. With his helmet resting between his right forearm and his hip, he made his way to the mess.

Kevin made himself a purposefully supersized meal, casual but with plenty of cheese and spice. He was only cooking for himself this time since Ralik still hadn't emerged from the depths of the Kellius. Despite not having anyone to converse with, he took his time and enjoyed his modest creation. He wasn't all that great of a cook, but he was good at winging it. Most of his cooked meals came together in the last few minutes of the process without him even knowing it. He's simply had enough luck that he hadn't fed anyone anything that didn't quite work out so well. As he enjoyed his meal and the stillness of the otherwise empty room, he decided that a quick inventory of the cargo hold was in order. With all the new stuff down there, there was a lot of reorganization to be had.

After he finished up with his meal, he moved to his room to change out of the hardsuit and into his usual casual garments. He grabbed a datapad from the desk and headed down to the cargo hold, not bothering to see where Ralik was or if the quarians were settled or not. They were marines. They didn't need babysitting. On his way down, he realized that he had totally forgotten where he had put his breather helmet. It was certainly an important piece of his gear, so he backtracked to check. He stepped back into his room only to discover that it wasn't there. He backtracked further and found it tucked under the table where he ate. Irritated that forgetfulness was striking yet again, he tucked the helmet under his arm and went straight down to the cargo hold without stopping in his room.

The moment Kevin entered into the crowded cargo hold, he had put his helmet down and was setting to work. He was checking to make sure everything they had before taking the quarians in was still in its proper place. It was a good thing he checked, too. Some of the crates holding beverages and food had been moved in order to make space for the things the quarians had brought aboard. He updated the locations of those crate in the ship's inventory via the datapad and moved onto documenting all the new items. Each crate the quarians brought aboard was labeled and listed the contents right on the front. It seemed Kortel ran a tight ship. Unfortunately, Kevin could not read quarian so he made due by peeking into any crates that were not locked to get an idea of what each held.

This mundane, yet necessary task had eaten up at least a few hours, and reorganizing the crates to better suit the inventory system took another few hours still. Normally this sort of work would be assigned to someone in charge of lower deck upkeep, but seeing as how he and Ralik were the only actual crewmembers, he had to do it himself. The basic run of a ship bigger than a simple fighter was becoming more and more clear to him, and while he found a sense of minor dignity in learning something as humble as maintaining a shipwide inventory, he could not dismiss the utter lack of. . . interest. Despite all this, Kevin knew this wouldn't be enough time for the quarians to finish their business. He had no intention of ever attempting to find out when they were done and would wait for one of them to emerge. That would be his answer.

Still, he was bored. Ralik was probably messing up engineering, and he had no patience for that right now. He needed to unwind a bit, and he decided Club Kellius was the cure for the itch. He just wanted to hear some of his favorite music. His mind was instantly made up and he headed for deck one. Once inside the entertainment room, he dimmed the ambiance, activated the podium and started up a custom playlist. He wasn't an 'official' DJ, but software programs made such a job so simple that kids with some amount talent could do it. The songs automatically transitioned properly via built in markers, so all he had to do was pick his list of tracks and off it went. The volume was raised and soon enough, Kevin's bobbing head and tapping foot rose to a moderately embarrassing dance. He'd never do this in public, but here he was away from prying eyes.

Or so he thought.

Only about an hour and a half into his obscenely long five hundred and thirty-eight hour playlist, Kevin suddenly noticed that there was another person in the room. It was one of the quarians. Bela'Merni, in fact. When Kevin suddenly stopped his dance and dropped the song volume, Bela burst out into laughter.

"Please tell me you don't _always_ dance like that! Ahahaha!"

Bela couldn't see it in the dim, quickly shifting light, but Kevin was beet red. He didn't attempt to deny it, so he just went along.

"Yeah, that was pretty bad, huh? Last time I try to make up a dance on my own."

But Bela wasn't done.

"Keelah, if I tried that back home, I'd be laughed out of the flotilla! Ahahaha!"

"Alright, I get it. Geez. Look, are you here for something or just looking around? I wasn't aware you guys were already done." Kevin brought the ambient light to a standstill and brightened it up a bit. The music continued to play, but it was at a background volume now.

"They aren't, but I am," Bela stated. "Too much. Ancestor this, ancestor that. Love those guys to death and all, but I can only take to much asking the dead to watch the dead. So I got bored and started to wander. Stepped into the room labeled 'Entertainment', and right away it lived up to its name."

"Yeah," Kevin said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Again, I wasn't expecting anyone. And no, I don't always dance like that." Kevin put his hands out at his side in introduction. "So? What do you think? Pretty sweet, yeah?"

"Pretty sweet is an understatement, I think," Bela mused. "This is incredible beyond anything I've ever seen! A room this big dedicated to dance and good times? I think I'm going be able to survive the trip back after all. It's like having your own personal club!"

"You guys like to dance?" Kevin asked with a raised brow.

"Just about all of us! We're all young enough to appreciate the noise and the motions and the lights. Well, except for the captain, but don't tell her I said that. She still likes to dance though, if you can manage to get her to move off the wall she's normally leaning on."

"That's. . ." Kevin paused as he thought about that for a moment. "That's pleasantly surprising. Especially since Ralik is such a bore. Maybe I'll at least have some people to dance with until we reach the Migrant Fleet."

"Maybe once we're all done exchanging sob stories, you can host a dance party for us! What do you think? You've obviously got the gear and the atmosphere, and I'm sure the others wouldn't mind a little dancing to break off all the sorrow."

Kevin's face broke into a full fledged smile. He was beaming at this. "Sure thing. Just let me know when you all want to have some fun and I'll break out the playlist."

"Let me see, let me see! I bet you have some insane tech up there." Bela came running up the short stairs of the podium, almost knocking Kevin over the waist high railings.

"Yeah, sure, just. . . Don't touch anything!"

While Bela practically drooled over the equipment that rand the room's systems, Kevin just leaned back onto the railing and crossed his arms. For some reason he was already enjoying having other people around, and all she was doing was obsessing over the tech. It was strange, considering how much of a loner he was since he left the military. It didn't bother him, though. Her excessive energy was nigh inspiring. Maybe she was still running off of leftover adrenaline, because she was springy and really wound up. No wonder she didn't bother to try sleeping. Kevin wondered if perhaps it was her coping mechanism for dealing with the loss – constant distraction.

"These are brand new models! Not the absolute latest, but brand new!" Bela was still in drool mode over the equipment.

Kevin stood up straight from his "Maybe when you're not so overtired I'll show you how to run some of it. I've been dabbling with the gear for a few days now, so I've pretty much got it figured."

Bela paused for a moment and looked down to the flat, empty floor below. "Screw it. Folner, hit the lights and crank some tracks."

Kevin scratched his chin and smiled warily. "Shouldn't you be heading back to the others now?"

"Are you serious?" Bela questioned while skipping down the stairs to center herself on the dance floor. "I'm on the verge of passing out from exhaustion and you want me to go back to that ho-hum? Forget that. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to dance to this stuff."

Kevin chuckled to himself. "She really is quite the firecracker. Well, she asked for it."

He manipulated the controls to bring the ambiance back down, get it to pulse abstract shapes and change colors appropriate to the dark themed, fast paced dance track that just started to mix in. A sliiiiight adjustment in volume brought it to heart-pounding levels and the stage was set. Club Kellius' grand debut with two seasoned club goers as the VIPs. Kevin's head had barely started bobbing when the quarian down below was yelling at him.

"Hey, Folner! Get down here already! You know how this works, I need a dance partner!"

Kevin wasn't about to let the lady stand alone, of course. He'd never danced with a quarian before, so this was sure to be a unique experience. He hopped on down and joined the fiery Bela'Merni on the dance floor.

In Kevin's experience, it was awkward to say the least. The helmet she wore blotted out facial emotions, and Kevin generally relied upon those since chatter was impractical with the volume so high. Additionally, her suit wasn't the softest thing in the world and made the occasional close contact dance rather different. These differences did nothing to change the fact that they were both having a good time, however. He could at least hear her voice in high spirits, even if he couldn't fully understand her over the music, and she was great dancer. He had heard quarians loved to dance, but he never really believed it until now.

And she kept going constant for almost two hours. When that moment arrived, she simply stopped dancing and looked up. Kevin heard her say something about being tired finally and she started to head for the door. She didn't even make it half of the way before she collapsed on the spot.

"Ah, crap. Should have seen this coming," Kevin said, shaking his head. "At least she got what she wanted, though. Passed right out from dancing."

Kevin quickly ran up the podium and stopped all music and light effects. The room returned to its classic lit state and Kevin wasted no time getting back to the poor girl.

"Alright, I guess it's time for you to go back to bed, missy."

Kevin bent down and picked up the limp quarian. Even though she was lacking all the armaments she carried before and had almost nothing dangling from her suit, she was still lighter than he had expected. He had figured that the exosuit they wore was heavier than it actually seemed. At least this would make carrying her back to the crew quarters easy. Carrying her with one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, he stepped out of the wildly successful Club Kellius and headed for the stairwell to deck two. The trip down was quiet, and Bela didn't stir at all. He felt bad about disturbing the quarians, but he reasoned that they would want their fellow marine resting with them and not in a chair upstairs. He stood in front of the door and gave it a few quick taps with the toe of his boot.

It took about thirty seconds for the door to open, but it did. The person to greet him was none other than captain Kortel. When they all saw the state of Bela, they all jumped up and rushed to the door behind their captain, worried about what happened to her. Riik was already spouting accusations.

"Bela! What have you done to her, Folner? I swear, if you so much as-" Riik was cut off by his captain.

"Enough, Votis. Go sit down and let me talk. I highly doubt he would harm her then bring her to our door."

Riik made it clear that he had other things to say, but fortunately his respect for his captain outweighed his rash anger. He and the others reluctantly dispersed into the room, all staring at their captain, the human, and the incapacitated quarian in his arms.

"Her vitals are fine, save for a low heartrate. Care to explain, Folner?"

"It was simple, actually," Kevin confidently stated. "She stumbled upon my entertainment room while I was playing some dance tracks. In short, I think she exhausted herself dancing on the dance floor."

"Dance floor?" Kortel asked, confused. It then hit her and she laughed. "I see. And you were her escort, then?"

"And her dance partner. None of it by choice, as it seemed." They shared a chuckle as they looked upon the helpless quarian girl.

"With the Merni clan, it rarely is," Kortel explained. "Thank you for bringing her back, Folner. And for helping her find her release. It was rough watching her trapped inside herself for the past few hours." She motioned for Kevin to come in. Kevin accepted her brief offer and stepped into the room to lay Bela down on a bed.

Kar curiously piped in at that moment, having only heard a portion of the conversation. "What's this about a dance floor?"

"Don't worry," Kevin responded, "I'm sure she'll tell you all about it when she wakes up."

The vague answer only left all the quarians other than the captain looking at each other in confusion. Kevin smiled, and with no intent on lingering, he started on his way out. Siri passed him a thankful, silent nod before addressing her company.

"I think it is time we all followed Merni's example for a change. We are all in dire need of rest."

Kevin didn't get to hear or see the reactions of the others before the door closed behind him, but he was pretty sure he felt laser death stares hitting him in the back from Riik and possibly from Arla as well. Either way, he also though it was time to grab some shut-eye. Between the battle, the inventory and Bela's impromptu dance extravaganza, he was just about wiped. It had crossed his mind to check on Ralik and make sure that there was still a functioning drive core in place, but he once again decided against it in favor of some sleep. Sleep that was quickly becoming his only want. Back up into his quarters, he hit the pillows face first and was instantly out.


	11. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10**_

After Kevin had awoken and cleaned himself up, he put on his usual 'combat oriented' undersuit, tied his knife sheath to his belt and strode out into the hall. He always brought his knife with him, even if he wasn't expecting any danger at all. A lesson learned early in the terminus systems. Upon turning the first corner into the hall, he could hear rapid scuffling just beyond the next corner, as if something was going on right outside the mess hall. Curious, Kevin slowed his steps to make himself as silent as possible and he peeked around the corner. There he saw two quarians – Tosh and Kar – conversing in rather audible whispers. They were jittery, and from what Kevin could gather from their body language, excited. Tosh was halfway into the mess hall, and Kar was outside talking to him.

"Did you check? Did you see?" Kar quietly asked.

"Not entirely, but I did see some," Tosh excitedly replied.

"Well, perhaps we should check for more?" Kar pressed, looking around Tosh to see inside the mess.

"Maybe we should let the others-" Tosh said, only to be cut off by his quarian friend.

"We need to make sure first! Come on, let's go!" Kar said, doing his best to keep his voice down.

The young quarian pushed passed Tosh and ran inside the mess hall. Tosh lifted his hands in defeat after having already been bypassed and he shook his head with a chuckle. He turned around and casually went into the mess hall himself, not quite in the hurry that Kar was in. Kevin was left wondering what the heck those two were up to that they felt the need to use hushed voices. Just as Kevin was about to round the corner to follow them, he was moderately startled by the voice that came from right behind him.

"Spying on us already?" Arla accusingly asked.

Kevin's body involuntarily shook itself in response and caused his heart to race temporarily. Embarrassed at having both been startled as well as having been snuck up on at all, he didn't turn around to face her right away. Instead, he tried to play it off as best he could as though he had known she was there. He was banking on the fact that she might not have noticed his quick shake.

"Those two were acting strange, so I was observing."

Unfortunately, she wasn't deterred.

"You haven't even known them for a day and you presume to know what strange is for them?"

"Based on what I've seen, yes," Kevin replied, standing firm.

"What were who doing anyways?" Arla asked, indicating that she had only just arrived.

"Welkas and Rolush. Not quite sure what they were up to, but they were excited about something in the mess hall."

Arla paused. "That _is_ a bit strange," she admitted, immediately heading passed Kevin to investigate. Kevin was soon following behind her so he could find out for himself.

When they opened the door and peeked inside, the found the two curious quarians over by the kitchen, inspecting some items from the refrigerator. There were some items already removed and stacked on the counter closest to their position.

"Great. They're raiding my fridge," Kevin said, half-expecting a chuckle from Arla.

He didn't get one, to his dismay. Rather instead she stepped into the room interrogating the raiders.

"What do you two think you're doing?" She inquired, almost demanding an answer.

"Arla!" Tosh called out, not in the slightest bit phased that they had been caught. "Look! Sealed turian cuisine! A bunch of it, too."

Oddly, Arla's disposition changed dramatically.

"Turian cuisine? Still in the packs?" she asked, genuinely curious and not in the slightest bit upset.

What was this crap? Now _she_ was falling into the same trap that lured the others in! Kevin could do nothing at this point but place an open palm over his face. Kevin flicked a thumb to the direction of the door and took a few steps backward out into the hallway.

"I'm going to go let your captain know you guys have, uh. . . Decided to eat."

Kar waved back to Kevin without so much as a glance. "Tell the others, too! Tell them to hurry up or there won't be any left."

Kevin just stared at them from the doorway for a few seconds, utterly confused. Were they not aware that was _his_ fridge? Not that he was going to eat turian-specific food, but geez. As strange as the situation was, he intended to make good on his threat to tattle, which was not something he usually did.

"Terra. Where is Captain Siri'Kortel?"

"I'm sorry, but I do not currently have any profiles by that designation."

"Ah, crap. Need to do that." Kevin shook his head and simply headed for one of the two most likely locations Siri might be. The first was engineering, and the second was the crew quarters. When he stepped inside engineering and let his eyes quickly adjust to the light from the fully engaged drive core, he peered around to see if anyone was present. Not seeing anyone on his floor, he looked down through the grate holes in the floor.

"Ralik?" He called out, assuming the salarian was manning his coveted lab.

"Yes?" Ralik called back.

"See any quarians lately?"

"Some earlier, but they left for the cargo hold a couple hours ago. Something about a terminal for the quarters?"

"Ah, thanks. Did you show off your lab?"

"Sure did. I couldn't rightly tell, but I think they were impressed."

"Of course they were. Have fun."

"Don't forget to stop at the next discharge point. It's your turn." Ralik sounded as if he had been waiting to say that for hours.

"Yeah, yeah," was Kevin's casual reply. He promptly exited engineering after that, not really wanting to be further nagged by a salarian.

Down the hall, Kevin stopped at the crew quarters and opened the door without even knocking. He was used to a small ship where he was the only crew, and any quarters were his. Even before that, when he was in the military, he was used to a larger crew quarters shared by just about everyone. Knocking was hardly common. Despite the fact that this didn't really dawn on him until after the door was open, he didn't feel the need to apologize. He peeked in to see if Siri was there. Inside he found Siri, Bela and Riik. They were all huddled around a terminal set up on the far end of the quarters with Riik sitting in front in a chair he had pulled over from the table. Once he stepped inside, the three of them stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Kevin. The room fell awkwardly silent for a while.

"Ah, Kevin," Siri said, breaking the silence. "I meant to tell you, but I got sidetracked. We set up this terminal here so that we quarians could share some data and use it as a workspace. I hope that is alright."

"Of course," Kevin said, relieved that they were not upset at his intrusion. "As long as you guys don't fiddle with the ship's systems from here. I'd rather you did that at the VI core." It was meant as a half joke, but once again, nobody was laughing.

"Noted," Siri said with a nod. She turned to head back to the terminal, but was interrupted by Kevin's message.

"Oh, uh. Arla, Tosh and Kar are in the mess. They told me to tell you all something." Kevin shifted his voice slightly and attempted to mimic Kar, accent and all. "Tell the others that there is turian cuisine here, and if they don't hurry, there won't be any left!"

The three quarians looked at each other. Riik got up and Bela ran out into the hall, barely making an effort to move around Kevin. Riik followed, but was not in as much of a hurry as Bela. At the very least, he was doing his best _not_ to run. After they left, Siri began making her own laid back exit into the hallway. She flicked her head, indicating that she wanted Kevin to walk with her. Without anything else to do, Kevin was happy to oblige.

"I'm not quite sure I understand what the deal is," Kevin stated to Siri. "I mean, sure, it's food you folks can eat, but that's all it is, right?"

"You have to understand how we live, Kevin. We generally only eat processed vegetables grown in the liveships of the flotilla. Especially since we've left, all we have is the food we've stored for the trip. It's very rare that we get the chance to have something as. . . How should I put it? Something as 'well prepared' and flavorful as turian cuisine. I suppose you could say it's a treat."

"Ah. Now I see. You guys aren't vegan by choice." Siri nodded to his response, and something dawned on him. "Hey, where's Tyr, anyway? Shouldn't we tell him?"

"Tyr is likely still doing an inventory of what survived the crash. He hasn't had time to take stock until we were finished yesterday, so he's doing it now. I'm fairly certain he'd much rather just be left to his work. I'll just have to make sure enough cuisine survives this ordeal so that he can have some later."

"Fair enough," Kevin shrugged.

"About the food," Siri started. "Were they polite when they asked for some?"

"Uh. . ." was Kevin's lackluster reply as they turned the corner into the mess hall.

The quarian crew was already inhaling the turian food via small straw-like extensions protruding from beneath the chin of their helmet. They had inserted the open end into the piercable cap and literally sucked it up.

"Captain!" Riik called out, tossing a turian food package to Siri. "Top quality stuff. Still sealed and clean. Warmed it for you."

Siri caught the package with one hand an simply looked to Kevin who rose his shoulders, then back to her crew. "Unbelievable!" she declared, clearly pissed. All of her subordinates froze in place and straightened up. "This man risks his life for all of you and you raid his food stores? We're quarian marines, not krogan savages!"

"We're sorry, captain," Riik said, embarrassed. "We just-"

"You just felt like helping yourself?" the captain immediately replied. As she continued, she got closer and closer to Riik who slowly fell into line with his comrades. "You just lost control at the sight of a treat? You just felt like tossing suit waste on those who saved us? You just felt like insulting them as well as me?"

Riik and the others were completely silent. It wasn't parental chastisement, it was military discipline.

"You tepka bosh'tets. You were trained better than this. This is why everyone looks at us like we're scavengers. If I see this sorry excuse for behavior again, there _will_ be repercussions. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am," they all replied solemnly.

"_Am I clear!_" Siri asked once more, with notably more fervor.

"Yes ma'am!" The quarians again replied but with a similar boost in emotion.

"Now finish your food. That's all there is, and you've all already broken the seals. Might as well finish it. And make sure to save some for Garloh. He's busy and can't make it at the moment."

The quarians resumed eating their meals, though to Kevin it looked as though the blissful enjoyment had been taken out of the picture. Siri turned around and stepped up to Kevin.

"My apologies, Kevin," Siri said. She seemed to cool down rather quickly. "They're some of the best marines I've ever had the pleasure of commanding, but they still act like pre-pilgrammage children sometimes."

"That's alright, I wasn't going to eat it anyways. Thanks for taking care of the situation, though."

Siri held up her food package palm up in front of Kevin. Kevin looked down at it and then back at the captain.

"Go for it. You don't have to ask me."

"After what you just witnessed, I most certainly do," Siri said matter-of-factually.

The quarian captain flicked her head towards the table juxtaposed to the one the quarian crew was using and made her way to it. Kevin followed and sat across from her, noticing the mix of apologetic looks from the other quarians. They ranged from 'not really all that sorry' to, 'Oh no, I messed up bad!'. Siri pressed a pair of inconspicuous buttons under the jawlines of her helmet and an increasingly familiar straw flipped out from the bottom of the mask. Kevin always wondered how quarians ate. Another mystery of the universe, solved.

"You're an unusually good man, Kevin," Siri stated, starting the conversation back up. "In fact, anywhere else I'd be suspicious of ulterior motives."

"Anywhere else, huh? I suppose that's why you haven't ordered your marines to commandeer the Kellius."

Siri laughed.

"While I could do it, I have no wish to. You haven't given us any reason thus far not to trust you, and you've certainly gone out of your way to lend us a hand. Even the charitable asari haven't done this much for quarians."

Kevin scratched his head. "It wasn't as far out of our way as you'd think."

"A moot point, I think." She paused to eat some of her food before continuing. "That still does nothing to dull the grand exit you promised. Why _are_ you inconceivably good to us? Most other species. . . Other people would notice the geth in the area and promptly remove themselves from the system."

"I'll tell you what I told Ralik, since he asked me something pretty similar. I have a soft spot for quarians."

"You pity us."

"Hardly, Siri. It's not that kind of soft spot."

Siri simply stared at Kevin a moment before sitting back in her chair and sipping at her food once more.

"You don't believe me?"

"On the contrary, I do. And that's what confuses me. I used to consider myself a hard person to get along with or gain the trust of, outside my people. Your shockingly unusual rescue attempt has me reeling, I suppose."

"So I've gained your trust?" Kevin asked.

Siri laughed again.

"I haven't known you long enough for that. I've been around the galaxy enough to keep trust close."

"Again, fair enough."

Siri tilted her head. It seemed she was surprised that Kevin didn't press the issue. She inserted the quarian proboscis into the food pack once more and continued her delightful meal.

"So. . ." Kevin started. "I picked up on some words my autotranslator didn't correct. Bosh'tet I've heard before, but not 'tepka'. What does that mean?"

"Ah. It's a sort of. . . It's a kind of amplifier word from our old language-based dialect, which is probably why it didn't translate when I said it. How to explain it. It's meant to amplify the social meaning of whatever immediately follows. The common trade language has words that serve the same function, but tepka is far less. . . Vulgar. It's design was meant for amplification, not a curse word adapted to serve multiple purposes."

"I see. That makes a lot more sense now."

Kevin noticed that some of the other quarians were leaving the mess hall, likely due to the fact that they had finished their meal. Almost as if on cue, Siri had emptied her food package as well and stood from her chair and threw the empty pack away.

"If you'll excuse me, captain, I have some more data logging to do in the crew quarters."

"I thought you said you were going to work on that," Kevin said with accusatory point.

Siri paused, presumably to smile. "So I did." She bowed slightly and made her way out of the mess.

At this point, only Kevin, Arla and Riik were left in the room. Riik gave Kevin a mild glare and exited as well, leaving Arla behind. Kevin also stood from his chair to leave, but stopped his walk when he was approached by the remaining quarian.

"Yes?" Kevin casually inquired.

"You and the captain have been chatting an awful lot," Arla said. Her tone was less than friendly, but not nearly hostile.

"Yes, I suppose you could say we've gotten beyond the simple acquaintance phase."

"She doesn't trust you, you know."

"I'm well aware of that. If a quarian captain handed her trust to me that easily, I'd be disappointed."

"You said you don't pity us, but that's what it sounded like to me. A soft spot? Really?" Arla leaned back on a leg and folded her arms in utter disbelief.

"I was wondering if you were listening in. Yes, a soft spot. And if I really did pity you as you say I do, don't you think I'd be treating you more like children or homeless vagrants in need of shelter and food?"

Arla let out a sigh of angst. She wasn't having any of it. Kevin wasn't done making his point, though.

"Remember, _you_ took the food from _me_."

Arla's head shifted back a bit, as if she was acutely insulted by the words that came out of Kevin's mouth.

"Watch what you say, human, or I'll be pressing your head into the nearest corner." Now the tone was hostile.

"Is that a threat or a challenge?" Kevin asked, arms crossed and unphased. "I warn you not to threaten me, Tavval, but I welcome a challenge. If that's what this is, then I accept."

"Just stay away from our captain. She doesn't need human friends," Arla spat. Once she was done, she stormed out of the mess hall.

Kevin stood still and watched the exiting quarian, wondering what just happened. She was the most accomplished hand-to-hand combatant from their ship, but she was unwilling to make a challenge? Perhaps that wasn't quite the case, then. Arla certainly was a curious one. Riik didn't even give him the pleasure of a leisurely chat, idle threats or not. Arla, on the other hand, made it a point to inform him of everyone's lack of trust even though he was already aware. It was possible she was struggling to deal with the fact that she doesn't trust humans, and that this human just saved her life. Either way, they were only a few days from the Migrant Fleet, so the issue would either work itself out or slip out the airlock.

Kevin finally gave up on those postulations. It wasn't worth worrying about, especially with such a temporary guest. He made himself a quick bite, then headed back to his room to review more audio logs. He half expected someone else to show up as he made for his quarters looking to give more advice on how he should manage his relationships to other people. Fortunately, this did not happen. Kevin plopped himself down on his comfortable desk chair and let out a sigh. This mission was not going according to plan, and things already weren't looking up. Rather than spiral into those thoughts again, Kevin activated his terminal and set to work.

Four entries in, and Kevin was already bored. McRoilie and his team must have hit a dry spell with their research, as three out of four of the entries Kevin reviewed he more or less labeled as 'No new data, brief consensus of the crew'. Each one consisted mainly of McRoilie's quick explanation of how each major player in the research thought the project was going. By this point, Kevin's head was laying on his arms on the desk, tired of hearing this man's voice. When the entries contained useful information, they were interesting. When they lacked anything worth noting, they were _torture._ The worst part was, he had to listen to the entire log each time because there was always a small chance that something important could crop up at the end.

Eventually, there was a break in the dull, meaningless logs and Kevin perked his head up once the notion of a breakthrough began to play.

"Log seventy-two, time reference is marked as refresher day. Finally, we have some readable and consistent results. Our improvised method of taking readings from the children without frightening them has taken a bit more time to tune than any of us originally planned, but the results are so far unprecedented compared to other more restricted methods. We have set up a playroom where the children are placed for a marked duration. This room has a series of four large scanners used to observe brain functions beyond the walls. Each scanner is able to move independently, and can do so in a spherical pattern around the room. Utilizing these machines, we can separately identify and hone in on each individual's brain and take surprisingly high resolution readings in five millisecond intervals. As far as we know, the children are completely unaware of the scanning process. While they are still only infants, the fact that they are oblivious to the scans should hold true into the future as we continually adapt the decor of the room to fit their growing intellect.

"Onto the results. While I cannot go into detail on these logs, I _can_ say that a lot of speculation is turning to reality. The highly enhanced nervous system and synapse reception is beginning to stabilize, meaning the signals from the nerves in the body should no longer be overpowering the brain's neural functions. The kids are crying a lot less now, thank God. However, there has been one unfortunate result that we have since not come to expect. Due to the fact that the children's neurological system was focusing on adapting itself to match the nervous system, their cognitive development has slowed. They are at the point where they should have begun attempts at walking, but they have barely begun to crawl. While normally this is viewed on a case by case basis, this particular fact is present in all individuals, and not just one or two. I fear this may put a permanent lapse in their development, but this is merely more speculation. These next few months will be more critical than ever. McRoilie out."

Kevin entered an appropriate description for the file and closed it out. Now that his interest had been piqued, Kevin was more than ready to move onto the next audio log. It had been a few hours since he had heard anything interesting, so he wanted to keep the ball rolling. That wasn't going to happen, though. Just as Kevin went to play it, Terra boomed over the audio emitters.

"Alert: We are approaching the next marked discharge location."

Kevin sighed. "Terra, I thought I told you to alert Ralik of this crap."

"The alert has already been sent to Ralik Dolannus, but no response has been made."

"Should have figured," Kevin said with a shake of his head. "Alright, have the haptics ready for me."

"Acknowledged."

Kevin shut down his terminal and pushed himself away from the desk with an irritated sigh. He wouldn't have been as peeved if Ralik had simply _asked_ him to take over discharging for the trip back rather than just assigning it to him. At least his trip up to the neck of the ship was unhindered by further surprise appearances.

By the time he had reached the bridge, he stopped to see that a quarian was occupying his forward pilot seat. While most of the colors were orange-washed by the haptic adaptive interface consoles, the stark lack of customization of the exosuit told Kevin that it was Kar'Welkas. Kevin didn't say anything right away, as it seemed that Kar hadn't even noticed his approach. The quarian was fascinated by the array of piloting gear in front of him. Kevin imagined there would be a small puddle of drool on the floor if quarians could indeed lose saliva to artificial gravitational pull. He simply tapped the curious quarian on the shoulder to bring him to his senses.

"Excuse me a minute, but I need that seat."

"What?" was Kar's initial near-emotionless reaction, at least until he turned his head to see who it was. "Oh! Keelah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" The startled quarian boy jumped up out of the chair and almost fell onto the console trying to get out of Kevin's way.

"No worries, Kar. I just need to set the ship up to discharge the core since a certain forgetful salarian can't do it right now."

"I see. . ." Kar said in a more calm fashion. He moved behind Kevin's chair to watch over his shoulder.

Kevin could tell that the quarian was watching and noting every single button he pressed, every menu he navigated, and every process he initiated. Once they came out of FTL, the glowing blue river outside the viewports gave way to a sweeping vista of several planets closely orbiting a dying star. The planet they had planned to discharge the core at was substantially closer to a second gas giant than the last time they were were. Kevin didn't like that. That probably meant some amount of increased convection in the atmosphere, or more. It wasn't anything Kevin couldn't immediately handle, but shaky situations in a ship he was only moderately comfortable piloting didn't mix well. The approach to the planet was smooth, but as expected, the consoles lit up with various readings and warnings about the turbulence between the two unusually close planets.

However, before Kevin even had the chance to start the process of lowering the ship to the magnetosphere, the quarian behind him piped up.

"No offense intended at all, sir, but may I perform the core discharge process? It's just, you look nervous."

Kevin turned his head slightly. At first he was surprised that Kar could read his face that well, but in reality he was more interested in seeing what the kid had learned about his ship. He hadn't forgotten Siri's praises of this one's ability to pilot a ship, so what harm could he do? Slowly, Kevin stood from the pilot's seat, offering it to Kar.

"Give it a shot, kid. Let's see how you do on a human frigate."

"Th-thank you, sir," Kar said. His voice was calm and collected, but Kevin could easily hear the excitement the boy was holding back. Kar cracked his six digits and brought full attention to the screens.

Kar started the process of bringing the ship into contact with the planet's strong magnetosphere, but he didn't activate any automatic functions. Whether he didn't know about the automatic functions or just preferred not to use them was difficult to tell. Either way, the ship quivered as it cruised within the turbulent area surrounding the two planets. Surprisingly, things seemed to be well under control. The shaking of the ship steadied after a while and the core discharge process had begun – all done without automation. It seemed Siri wasn't lying. This kid _could_ pilot, at least with simple discharge maneuvers. Kevin was no seasoned helmsman, but he could tell when a talent came naturally. It was too bad the kid would be gone in a few days. He could share the piloting duty, and he might _like it._

Once the ship was fully settled and discharging the drive core, Kar lifted his hands off of the consoles and sat back, satisfied. His head turned to look out one of the viewports so he could watch the small bolts of electricity collectively scatter away in continuous waves and disappear in the near distance. After only a minute of sitting stone still like this, Kar carefully got up and turned to Kevin.

"Thank you, sir. That meant a lot to me."

"It was nothing, Kar. Good work, by the way. That was slick."

"It was only a simple maneuver. Heh." Kar was certainly taking his compliment in stride. He almost sounded bashful. "Anyways, I'll leave you to, uh. Finish discharging. Sorry about the food earlier."

The quarian immediately ducked out of the bridge and headed for the briefing room. He stopped suddenly for only a second upon noticing his captain leaning against the wall just before the neck opened up into the briefing room, watching them. Without saying a word, he continued on past Siri and made a hasty exit through the round meeting room. Once Kar was out of sight, Siri removed herself from the wall and started towards the bridge, staring Kevin down.

"Ah geez. You're stalking me. I knew it," Kevin said with false irritation.

"You're a hard man to read, Folner," Siri said as she approached passed the airlock.

"Enigma is my middle name. Actually, scratch that. That sounds too feminine for me. How about. . . Obscure?"

Siri tilted her head and rested it on a finger and thumb and said nothing.

"Captain Ambiguous?" Kevin waited for a few seconds for a response, but there wasn't one to be had.

"Digging myself a hole, aren't I?"

This time there was a response. Siri nodded her head.

"Alright, I'm done," Kevin proclaimed. "Really. How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough. Getting to know Welkas, hmm?"

"Nice kid. I'm assuming he's younger than me. He's your star pilot? Kind of weak in the knees for someone who managed to crash land an entire ship without killing everyone."

Siri stopped in front of Kevin as he spoke, but moved beyond him once he was done so that she could stare out the viewports at the growing aurora surrounding the ship mixed with dancing jagged lines of fleeing electricity.

"As admirable as his attempt was, a lot of people still died in the crash. He knows this, and it crushes the core of his soul. As far as I'm concerned, he saved far more than I thought possible, but that acknowledgment doesn't change much for him. For someone so young to have to go through that reality. . ."

Kevin finished where she left off. "That could be traumatizing. Even for a seasoned marine. I was surprised he took the helm at all. Still did good, though. I wouldn't have gotten near that kind of stability trying to maneuver here."

"You did him a great service by letting him take the helm, Kevin. I had feared that he would never want to pilot again. He's too talented to ground, and I would never want to see him shy away from a pilot's seat."

"Once a crazy pilot, always a crazy pilot," Kevin said, staring off into space.

"I'm not so sure about the _crazy_ part. . ." Siri noted.

"Sorry," Kevin replied. "Just remembering a pilot I used to know. She couldn't be grounded either. That sort of passion doesn't let you."

"Very true."

There was a moment of silence, letting the quiet blips and beeps from the various terminals around the bridge take over the ambiance.

"Kar respects you, you know," Siri pointed out. "Even moreso now."

"I barely know the kid. How can he respect me already?"

"He calls you 'Sir'. Among quarians, calling someone 'Sir' in the common trade language or 'Ma'am' in the female case denotes one of two things, and isn't lightly tossed around like in other cultures. Either the person is of a higher military rank and has earned respect through service, or the person is someone that the individual respects in more than one way militarily or not. Perhaps your laid back attitude or ability to actually trust granted you that. I can't really say."

"Well, I'm flattered. I wasn't expecting to gain respect from any of you, seeing as how all I did was pick you guys up. Outside of the military, respect is like trust. It's earned, not given. Sometimes, it's just as hard to gain."

"Well said," was Siri's simple reply. "Well, I have to go check on Riik down in the crew quarters. You've probably already noticed that I like to keep physical track of my people."

"You'll be having more fun than me. I get to watch this thing discharge for forty-five more minutes," Kevin said as he sat back into the pilot's chair.

"Enjoy the view while you can, Folner," Siri called back on her way through the briefing room. "It's beautiful and temporary. Might as well seize the moment while it's staring you in the face, yes?"

"Ain't that the truth," Kevin muttered to himself.

He sat back in the chair to get comfortable, expecting to wait forty-five minutes before setting the ship back on the plotted course back towards the Far Rim relay. It had hardly been a minute, however, before he head footsteps coming up the neck of the ship.

"Back already?" Kevin asked, sitting up to look and see who it was after asking. He was mildly surprised to see Arla approaching instead.

"Are you stalking me too? This is getting a little weird."

"I thought I told you to leave the captain alone, Folner," Arla growled.

"Really? The woman comes to talk to _me_ and _I'm_ the one getting yelled at? This is so typical. Did Ralik send you up here?"

"Shut up for two seconds! Keelah!" she shouted.

"Oh! I get it. You were 'eavesdropping' again. I'm sorry, was that conversation too buddy-buddy for you? Afraid I might get cozy with your captain?"

"She's being friendly to you because you saved us," Arla manage to say, barely containing her anger. "That is all. When we get back to the Migrant Fleet, you'll be nothing more than a used escape pod. Our captain has no need for a random _human_ friend. Never has, and never will. Whatever messed up plan you're hiding, you better toss it out before someone gets seriously hurt."

"Planning?" Kevin shouted with a pseudo-forced gufaw. "You're a curious girl, Arla. You can't stand me, but you make it a point to try and ward me away from a potential friendship split, and even more, you drum up conspiracies about me conspiring!" Kevin wasn't so much outraged at her as he was appalled by her.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" the enraged quarian girl shouted back. "We're only here for a few days and then we don't have to deal with each other anymore! You're not one of us, so just. Stay. Away." Arla's seething disposition was beginning to break through. She shoved Kevin at the conclusion of her statement.

"Newsflash! I don't answer to you, nor does your captain. If we want to converse, then by God, we will converse. If you want to lock yourself in a corner with Riik and start a human hate group, then go for it! I'm not stopping you. Just don't get in my way."

Arla had reached the controlled limit of her temper. With a quick motion, she kicked one of her feet out, precisely aimed for Kevin's right knee. If Kevin hadn't already been expecting this heated argument to get physical, he might not have had the foresight to watch for an attack and he would certainly have ended up with a broken knee. His keen close quarters combat skills caught the move in time, however, and he moved his leg aside. He countered by swiftly grabbing her foot and throwing it upward, which caused the quarian to involuntarily backflip. Interestingly, instead of hearing an awkward face-down thud from a falling quarian, Kevin watched Arla gracefully land on all fours. She stood upright, shrugging off a light adrenaline-induced pant and stared Kevin directly in the eyes.

"You want your silly challenge? You have it."

"Accepted," Kevin blurted without hesitation. "See you in the entertainment room once this discharge is done."

"Fine." Arla sharply turned one hundred and eighty degrees and quickly left the room.

Kevin let go of a breath and scratched his temple. He also had gotten a small dose of adrenaline from the quick bout, and he turned around to focus on the serenity outside the viewports in order to calm himself and go over what just happened. He sat down in the helmsman's chair and replayed the end of the argument in his head.

As he recalled the fresh memories over and over, one thing held true. Arla was no amateur fighter. Her kick was accurate, swift and calculated. Her reaction to his successful counter was practiced, smooth and set her up to potentially deal with whatever follow-up moves he might have made. It was clear to him that whatever the winning condition for the challenge would be, the fight to get there was going to hurt. Beyond that, he was anxious to see the result of their two very different martial styles when they clashed. It excited him, almost. It had been a while since he had dueled anyone, much less without the intention of killing one another. He didn't consider himself rusty by any means – the moves for fighting were burned into his mind to make it as close to reflex as possible, thanks in part to the Alliance Military's rigorous CQC training and exam sessions. Even still, this fight was different from most he had had in recent years, and he needed to keep that in mind.

Before he knew it, there was only five minutes left on the discharge process. He drew in and released a deep breath, calming his nerves again. He sat up straight to wait patiently for the rest of the process to complete, but an approaching voice from the briefing room slapped away his grasp for concentration.

"Folner!" It was Siri.

Kevin stood and turned to look towards the quarian captain, expecting her to lunge at him for challenging her subordinate. "Yeah?"

"I was just briefed on the situation. A hand to hand challenge is to take place in the room marked 'Entertainment'?" There was no hint of anger or angst in her voice, to Kevin's relief.

"That's correct."

"Arla apologized to me for making the challenge out of anger, but said she would make no apologies to you. She also informed me that while she has additional motivation for winning, she will treat this duel as it should be treated. For sport. I trust you will do the same?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kevin calmly stated. "I'm actually glad to hear that she's bringing this back to a sensible level."

"Should I be worried about what conspired in my absence to cause this to happen?"

Kevin thought about letting Siri know about Arla's accusations and unnecessarily hostile disposition. The thing was, Arla understandably only wanted to protect her captain, but she was good at going about it the wrong way. Either way, he never was any kind of serious tattler, and wasn't about to be one now.

"It's nothing to be too concerned about. Just some differences we need to settle. Combat sometimes makes the best communication medium. Especially when words fail."

Siri paused. "Very good. And I pray to Keelah that you have some manner of hand-to-hand combative skill. If Arla were to win this one outright, she would get nothing from it except fuel for her ego."

"I wouldn't have accepted if I had no confidence in my own abilities, Siri," Kevin stated matter-of-factually.

"Fair enough. We will all be in the entertainment room for when you are done up here." Siri turned to leave.

"Wait, _all_ of you?" Kevin asked, taken aback by the realization that all the quarians would be watching.

Siri stopped and turned her head to look at Kevin. "Of course. Hand-to-hand duels are almost ceremonious in their proceedings, and while they aren't the most popular source of entertainment, they almost always attract crowds on quarian ships. We won't be quite as formal, but you get the idea."

Kevin could swear he noticed an excited skip in her step as she exited the briefing room. He was left speechless, and as a result simply turned around to wrap up the core discharge process and set the ship back on course.

"Good one, Kevin," he muttered to himself. "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"


	12. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11**_

Kevin's walk back to the entertainment room was quiet but filled with mental noise. In addition to simply mentally preparing himself for the fight, he was dealing with the idea of fighting in front of a crowd. While a few extra quarians might not seems like a crowd to others, it wasn't the number of onlookers that was the issue. The real issue was how distracting the sideliners tended to be in numbers both great and small. Just about any one on ones he had in previous years were with targets he intended to kill and who had just noticed him sooner than expected. They were alone, or at least were alone enough that anyone in the immediate area wouldn't have seen the fight until it was too late.

"It's alright, Kevin. It's just a few extra people. Nothing to fret over," he said to himself. "Just ignore them and you'll be fine."

He stopped just outside the entertainment room door and rolled his head, causing his neck to crack a few times in the process. A deep breath, and he activated the door panel. When the door split open, he found the quarians spread about the room, curiously eying the square, empty place. Bela had taken position up on the podium on the side and was inspecting the controls there with Riik, while Siri, Kar, and Tyr were on the opposite side chatting. Tosh and Ralik were looking up at the ceiling, pointing out some random piece of lighting equipment. Arla was stretching by herself on the far side of the room.

When Kevin entered, everyone noticed him right away and abandoned whatever they were doing just prior to that. They spread themselves around the outside of the room, while Siri took a position on the podium.

"Ralik, why are you here?" Kevin asked.

"Well, when I heard that you and the hotshot quarian were going to beat the crap out of each other, I _had_ to come observe," Ralik admitted, amused.

Kevin sighed and placed his face in an open palm.

"Kevin, Arla," Siri called out. "You both get a few minutes to warm up, then we will begin."

"We?" Kevin asked to himself. Taking his alotted time seriously, he began to stretch his muscles. As he warmed up, he noticed that Arla had removed the armor normally attached to her suit. She was more exposed now, but far more agile. Kevin was hoping she'd have opted to keep the armor on, but she obviously knew better. Kevin decided at this point that biotics were out of the question. He was pretty sure the quarians were unaware that he was biotic, and he wasn't going to reveal that to them by crushing Arla's limbs accidentally or otherwise. After a few minutes of prep and warm up, Siri called down to them again.

"Arla, Kevin, to the center please." She seemed to be the acting supervisor for this duel, which made sense. She was the captain, and likely had to be the supervisor over several duels in the past. She was literally the most qualified. "The rules are simple. No broken bones and no grabbing of vitals. Kevin, this means you cannot use any vital piece of Arla's environmental suit, such as the various tubes or cables, as a holding point. This is a duel, not a fight. Let's keep it civil."

"Understood," they both replied. Kevin immediately knew he was at a disadvantage, but it was one he could live with. He hadn't intended on using any 'hair pull' moves, or moves that might grab at the tubes under her hood. That was a dreadfully tactless sign of desperation.

"The winning condition is by request, and something I could agree on. The first able to hold their opponent's head to the floor, and only the floor, is the winner of this challenge."

"Really? Head pressed to the floor?" Kevin asked. Of all the challenges he had witnessed, that was a strange winning condition. It was obvious who made the request.

"Yes. You may begin."

The room fell completely silent as the onlookers waited for the two in the middle of the room to start their bout. Starting with Bela, a light rhythm was generated by using her hands to tap, hit and smack various areas on her body. As the others joined in, it grew in volume and complexity. Soon only Ralik and Siri were the only observers not coating the room in quarian-derived mood music. Right off the bat Kevin recognized that it followed a basic 3 / 4 beat sequence, but after that the details faded behind the focus on his opponent.

Arla immediately adopted a low stance, hands up and open. Kevin kept his stance as neutral as possible. It was the hardest to counter from, but the hardest to predict. With Arla being as trained as she was, Kevin rationalized that he shouldn't be the one to make the first move. He knew that the first strike was always the hardest to make connect. The opponent had all the time in the world to watch for your first move, and finding any way to be unpredictable tended to make the difference, at least in Kevin's experience.

"Aren't you going to get ready?" Arla asked with a slight hint of irritation.

"I _am_ ready. You can come at me any time you want," Kevin taunted, doing his best to ignore the others.

Luckily, Arla was more than willing to get this started. She took the bait and approached for her first strike. She continued to hold her low, crouched stance until she was within striking range, where she quickly swept her leg for a tripping move. It was an unusually predictable opener, at least for what Kevin expected from Arla. He simply hopped over the leg as approached, making ready to counter. What he didn't expect was that Arla continued the momentum and spun around while standing up, bringing the extended leg around for a fast second waist high kick.

While it was unexpected, Kevin was not caught off-guard. He used his arms to block the force of her leg, and caught it before it fell away. With one of her legs completely under his control, normally he would break it right here and be done. But this was a duel, not a fight to the death. Arla had since jumped off of her one good leg and used it to swing a kick at Kevin, and this time it was expected. Kevin used his free arm to deflect the kick over his head. He let the leg he held rotate in his arms and threw it upward as the quarian fell. The new, awkward angle that Arla was falling at didn't allow her her to gracefully land on all fours as before. She hit the ground on her side, and now was Kevin's turn to attack.

Originally, Kevin's style of fighting was directly based on the training he had received in the military. It was fast, direct and went for the crippling blow first. Over the years, however, that didn't quite make the cut. Kevin used the fundamentals, but continued to improvise on the base tactics. He adopted a style more suited to dodge around melee attacks first and counter second. This was because if someone knew that he were there to kill them – regardless of how long they were aware of it – when he confronted them, they often lashed out like a cornered beast.

But now he was on the attack. He opted to try and suppress her arms first before going for the challenge win. The fact that the holding of the head was the objective made winning difficult, as simply pressing the head down meant you were going to have to deal with retaliation from all four limbs. This initial counter would have worked if Arla had not rolled just beyond his range. Even still, she had to get to her feet and still fend off his counter attack. Kevin's counter came as an arm in full swing, aiming to press itself into the side of Arla's helmet. He knew he couldn't do any real damage, but the aim was to disorient, not damage. Arla saw it coming in time, though, and she used her arm to absorb the blow.

This sort of back and forth dodge, deflect and counter continued between the two for several minutes. As they fought, the observers began to cheer for one of the two while the quarians quickened their battle rhythm. They also adopted using the floor and the walls as objects to create a rhythm as well as their bodies. After seven minutes of constant close quarters combat, it was looking to boil down to whoever made a mistake first.

That moment came when Arla spun around to deliver a momentum enhanced left elbow strike towards Kevin's face. She was sure it was going to make contact, and as such exposed herself by not facing Kevin when the strike was meant to hit. Kevin didn't dodge this one, but rather caught it with his left hand. With as much speed as he could muster, Kevin weaved his right arm around hers and he pulled hard to throw her over his shoulder. The nimble quarian jumped to lessen the damage to her shoulder from the strain, and as a result was pulled over Kevin's head. She had shifted her weight to change her center of gravity so that she would come down on her feet when she landed, and Kevin felt the weight shift. He knew she was going to have the advantage if she succeeded in sticking that landing, but he already had plans of his own

The very second that Arla's feet had touched the ground, Kevin kicked his right foot out forward while still moderately hunched from the pull to catch her right in the butt. In that contorted position he was in, it was more a shove than a damaging blow. This was all Kevin was going for, though, and he put as much kinetic energy into that shove as he could. Arla ended up stumbling forward at the speed of a sprint, only stopping when she came in contact with a wall. She used her hands to soften the impact with the unforgiving obstruction. Kevin instantly saw this as his opportunity to finish the duel with only a few more moves.

He didn't give Arla the chance to get away from his counter this time and he was right behind her when she smacked into the wall. He grabbed her left elbow once it was exposed from using her hands to lessen her impact, and placed a leg right behind her feet. He sharply yanked backwards, which caused her to trip on his leg. Kevin did as best as he could to follow her decent, albeit in a more controlled fashion, pinning the arm he held under her own body when she hit the floor. After this point, he was sure this fight was over. He hovered over her downed body, pressing a knee into her left thigh to keep it still. That was the leg he feared the most retaliation from. His left hand was occupied with holding down Arla's unpinned arm, and his right hand was placed firmly on the quarian's transparent helmet visor.

Arla fought with everything she had to move herself from that position, and tried to knee him with her only mobile limb. This, however, had little effect on the human. After only ten seconds of her fruitless thrashing, Siri called the duel.

"Enough. The duel has been won. Kevin Folner, you are the victor of this challenge."

Arla ceased her attempts at freedom and Kevin got up off of her. They were both panting from the strenuous exertion they put forth during the battle, and Kevin had beads of sweat gathering on his forehead and temples. He offered a hand up to his defeated opponent, but she got to her feet without his assistance. Once they were both to their feet, the others within the room all started on their cheers, jeers and opinions while taking slow steps towards the duelists.

"Impressive moves, Folner!" shouted Bela.

"That was the best duel I'd seen in months!" Kar yelled, practically hopping from excitement.

"I can't believe you beat Arla!" Tosh exclaimed.

"You're not done yet, you'll get him next time," Riik assured.

"Solid stance, you two. It could have gone either way several times. A great duel indeed," Tyr summarized.

"I'll admit, I didn't think you were going to stand a chance, Kevin," Ralik stated.

Captain Kortel was the only one to stay silent.

"Where. . . Where did you learn. . . To fight like that?" Arla inquired between breaths.

"I guess you could say. . . It's part of. . . Of the job," Kevin answered.

"And what. . . Job would that be?"

Kevin thought a minute on how much information he should divulge to the curious quarian. He wasn't sure if the truth would cause her to accept his superior fighting ability, or reject it solely based on what it was. In the end, he figured the truth had a higher chance of gaining either respect or trust.

"I take contracts. . . To kill people. I'm an assassin of sorts. Self-appointed title, mind you. The fighting skills are improvised versions of military training, while picking up a few moves here or there from other people."

She paused as she stared at him before taking a step back.

"An assassin?" She repeated. The room quieted down immediately.

"Arla, don't call him that. It's an egotistical title." Riik shouted.

"I apologize. I meant 'Professional Murderer'," Arla stated, taking Riik's advice.

"Hey," Kevin interjected. "Call me what you want, but I'm anything but professional." Another half-joke, intended to disarm to seemingly hostile undercurrent of the conversation. Clearly, humor was not his strong point. "It's not my fault you challenged me at one of my strengths."

"I can't believe we let ourselves be 'rescued' by a human killer!" she yelled, derailing the conclusion of the duel.

"I haven't killed anyone here, have I? Look, if you're so disturbed by my profession, I can turn around and drop you back off on that whitewashed planet I picked you up from."

"Whoa," Tosh said, stepping in. "Let's not make any hasty decisions, now. Arla, I advise a breather?"

"I bet this ship belonged to someone you murdered, too!" Arla accused.

Kevin. . . Had nothing to say. That was a really good guess. He simply stood there with an open mouth and a finger pointed, meant to suitably reflect the accusation. Unfortunately for Kevin, the accusatory point was hollow and meaningless.

This was when Arla pulled the knife from the sheath on her calf and held it firm in front of her.

"Then you won't object if I challenge you to an armed duel," Arla more or less demanded.

The other quarians and Ralik were all uneasy and surprised by this sudden turn of events. Everyone except for Riik took a step back, away from the two confronting individuals. Siri finally had to speak.

"Tavval. Get your head right. We're not here to kill each other."

Arla rotated her shoulders in preparation. "I just want a 'friendly' duel, captain. No harm in that, right?"

Kevin shook his head. "Arla, look. I've only ever unsheathed my blade for two reasons. To clean it, and to kill someone. I can't guarantee in any way you'll walk away from this without injury. I have _no_ stop points in my technique."

"You're sounding awfully afraid for a contract killer, Folner," Arla prodded.

Again, Siri stepped in. "Tavval, if you go through with this and get yourself badly injured, I will not be on your side. Any injuries you gain will be your own lesson to learn. As your captain, I strongly suggest you walk away. This is not the way to handle this."

"Can I once again stress that I have no guarantee of stopping in time?" Kevin pointed out for emphasis. "You do realize how much of a disadvantage you're at, right? With your suit possibly getting punctured and all?"

"That was a bit low, Folner," Riik coldly stated.

"Are you backing down from a challenge? I thought you welcomed them. Are you going to take me on, or are you just going to stand there like a volus trying to negotiate a bad deal?"

Kevin was beginning to fully realize the pride issues that Siri had warned him about. Arla didn't know how to lose at all. It wasn't any help that Riik was in her corner fueling the fire either. Regardless, Kevin was not about to be called an incompetent volus in front of _anyone_. This time, _he_ would have to take the bait. He unsheathed his blade with his right hand and held it in a reverse stance, so that the blade itself stuck out by his pinkie finger rather than by the index finger.

"Alright. I'll see your challenge met, Tavval."

"Keelah protect them both. . ." Siri muttered, shaking her head.

Everyone in the room was tense. This was a situation that could get real ugly, real fast. The excitement of the duel that was present during the first fight was disturbingly absent now and there was no attempts from Bela or anyone to ease the tension with more rhythm. With no proper doctor aboard, any serious injuries might not get the attention they would need. Medi-gel was incredibly useful, but it was no miracle gel.

Kevin calmed himself as best he could. The danger of the situation caused his adrenaline to pump through his system, and he couldn't let that get ahead of his reflex and combat logic. His head began to feel warm as the synapses began to fire at faster and stronger rates than usual. He briefly analyzed Arla's stance. She held the knife forward, rather than the backward hold he had on his, and in her left hand. This meant their blades were on the same side of the battle. She would most likely go for a wide slash first, or an aimed thrust. He would be able to tell early on depending on how her arms moved.

Kevin's armed close quarters combat, or CQC, abilities weren't largely based on improvised military techniques like his unarmed hand-to-hand was. The military only did a short training session on how to properly handle bladed weapons and where to strike with them in the event it was necessary. Such weapons were unorthodox in this modern era, as guns generally overpowered bladed weapons all the time. Despite this fact of life Kevin loved using his guardless, black metal knife. It was silent, never required ammo, never needed a thermal clip and most importantly, was never stopped by suit-based kinetic barriers. Sure he used guns when it made sense, but often times he had to kill an armored target without alerting anyone nearby. A mass effect field-hardened knife sharpened to the molecule did that with beautiful ease, and he made it a priority to make sure that he could wield it with fluid finesse – even against other melee armed opponents. He spent more time training with his knife than he did learning and improvising his unarmed combat skills.

That knife wasn't just his weapon. It was his closest and most trusted friend. And now Arla had awakened its cold, vicious wrath.

Kevin took a preliminary step forward in order to draw Arla in. It worked, and she started her approach. Oddly, she seemed to slow down as she drew close. It wasn't her, though. Kevin's brain was in full focus, and a familiar clarity washed over him. The same clarity he usually experienced as he was about to make a hit on a designated target. That was coupled by the heightened state of the activity his brain allowed him to process far more things in a shorter amount of time. Since his brain was used to processing things at a certain pace and it was forced to deal with an increased amount of information that could be analyzed at once, Kevin always perceived things as moving slower when this happened. It was his edge, and he often used it to its fullest when it came about.

It was plainly clear to him that Arla was going for a delayed, aimed thrust. Her slowed motions gave Kevin plenty of time to more accurately observe and predict her moves. With one quick and seamless motion, Kevin pointed his blade down, pushed her thrust off to his right, stepped forward and used his left hand to deliver a staggering blow to her left shoulder. Arla was not able to withstand the direction of the impact, and she slowly began to fall. As the quarian combatant made her patient descent, she slashed from where her deflected knife had ended up, trying to catch Kevin in his side somewhere. Anywhere.

But Kevin had learned long ago to never forget where an enemy's strength was and where their attacks could spring from. He deflected the slash upwards over his head since his knife was nearly already in position, but purposely angled his blade so that it could continue close to the hair on his head. This made it so that as he stepped forward again, he could easily grab her wrist just passed the butt of her weapon with his left hand as she sustained her sluggish downward direction. He used this to his advantage, crossing her left arm over her chest when she finally hit the cold floor and slamming it in place at her right side. Kevin noticed that the impact on her wrist had disarmed her, forcing her fingers to part with the knife. The killing blow was all that was left to ensure that this mark was eliminated. A tightly clenched fist held his black tool of death firm and true, and he launched his fist outward as if to punch Arla square in the face. Instead, his fist was aimed just to the left of her neck so that the blade jutting out the right side would fatally slice into her throat, and perhaps more.

But something ticked in his head. This wasn't a marked target.

Kevin forced his fist to come to a complete halt, and not a moment too soon. Arla's death was only centimeters away. Kevin came to his proper senses with a long and strenuous exhale while his pupils shrank back to normal size. _You need to calm down right now, Kevin,_ he told himself. He held his dominating position for a few more seconds, breathing heavily. When he felt he could fully bring himself to do it, he backed off of Arla and stood up straight. The blade was sheathed without a moment's notice, and Kevin took a step back to view the others around the room. They had all just begun to react to what they thought was to be the death of their Second Lieutenant. Everything was still moving slow, but that feeling of intense control and clarity began to ebb away. The movements of the others began to return to normal, and he saw just how everything had ended up.

Arla was beaten. She did nothing but lay there, motionless. However, she was not motionless due to death. She, too, was panting again as he was. It was the chilling fact that she had been beaten in only two moves and that she nearly died in that instant that consumed her. To compliment all this tension, the room was totally and deafeningly silent.

"Arla?" Tosh called, breaking the silence. "Tavval? Are you alright?"

There was another minute or so of stark silence companioned by a lack of any real movement about the room.

Finally, Arla stirred. She stood straight up, not even bothering to grab her knife. She looked down for a short moment, then she looked about the room until her gaze settled upon Kevin. She let out a held in breath and started to break out into a run for the door. Everybody watched her leave, and she didn't take a moment to look back as she hit the panel to open the door. She ran out into the hall and the door closed behind her.

Then everyone else began to move again, as if barriers holding them in place had lifted. Most let out an exasperated sigh of relief, whilst leaning against a wall for support. Kevin heard a few mutterings, most notably Siri's 'Thank Keelah.'. Once everyone had caught their breath, they all gathered in the middle by Kevin.

"Wow," Tosh said in astonishment. "I was blown away. The calculated, ruthless efficiency. You only made two moves and the battle was fatally over!"

"Remind me never to take you on in a fight," Kar said.

"Holy crap, Folner. I think you just got me aroused!" Bela jokingly exclaimed.

"Thank you," Riik said solemnly. "For not injuring Arla. A soldier never misses that predatory look I saw in your eyes. I know that you could have. . ." He trailed off before speaking the dire truth.

"Predatory look?" Kevin asked with a smile, unsure of what Riik was referring to, but his question went unheard.

"Yes, we are all thankful for the painless outcome, Folner," Siri stated. "That woman is making me too old too soon. Alright everyone, the show's over. Give the victor a few minutes to breathe, alright?"

While the other quarians were corralled out of the entertainment room, Siri stayed behind as usual. Kevin wasn't aware, though, as he was busy dealing with an oncoming headache and the aftereffects of a large adrenaline rush. He placed a pinched thumb and index finger on the sellion of his nose and let out a sigh. His eyes were closed, but he could hear Siri walking up to him from behind. He turned around with no real sense of haste and opened his eyes to confront the captain.

"Look, I'm sorry with how that turned out. I almost-"

Siri cut his apology short with a raised hand.

"Almost. But you didn't. You gave her more than enough fair warning."

"Weren't you worried that she might have been killed?"

"Keelah, yes. I really thought I was going to lose my officer there. But you've shown a great deal of control, and I'm grateful for that."

"So you were just going to let it happen?"

"It's not as simple as that. They're not children, Kevin, you know this. They may act like it at times, but who doesn't? As their captain, I aim to protect them from the threat at large but I can't always save them from their own mistakes or themselves. That requires a personal approach that a captain cannot make due to her duties and position. But you. . . You have done more that I could have hoped for in that regard."

"I don't feel like I did much of anything, other than turn Arla pale. Well, figuratively."

"I always feared Arla's own ego would be her end. Today, it nearly was, and she was forced to confront that fact herself. I imagine she has a lot of reflecting to do after today's events."

"How do you think she'll take this? I mean, the loss of the Forverna was hardly a day ago."

"Arla's a tough one. She'll be depressed at first, yes, but she learns from her mistakes when she makes them. This was the first time she lost a duel, and the first time she stepped way beyond her own boundaries. Both were mistakes, and one nearly cost her life. She'll most definitely learn from that."

"Good to hear. Even the best have to learn how to lose once in a while," Kevin boldly stated.

"Although I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if she were to be confronted by her opponent to offer respects and congratulations on a fair duel, don't you think?"

"Ah, right. If I didn't, I'd be gloating in a sense," Kevin agreed, scratching his head in embarrassment from forgetting.

"Now you have the right idea. Give her some time alone, but don't wait too long, alright? My guess is that she's coping with the loss by checking the engines or tinkering with that lab in engineering." Siri nodded her head to Kevin and left the entertainment room.

Kevin started to mull on what to do. How on earth was he to confront Arla after all that? His mind was drawing a complete blank, and he never liked that. Being stumped on a situation was a bad habit to get into. His usual solution for these rare moments of cognitive absence was to 'wing it' and see how things played out as he went along. He had to wonder just how bad the encounter could really go. He ended up deciding that he would go talk to Arla after a meal and a shower. That should give her enough time to cool down, right?

After another long sigh, Kevin made his way out of the entertainment room and went to engineer another edible concoction. He went out of his way to take his time as he made his food and ate it, looking to soak up as much time as possible. Despite this valiant effort, he only managed to consume forty-five minutes by the time he exited the mess hall. When he entered his quarters to take his shower, he thought about reviewing an audio log to soak up some time, but this was _not_ the time to be adding descriptions to old files. He'd just have to take a long shower. And that's exactly what he did. He took an extra-long shower – twenty minutes from removing his clothes to drying off. After dressing himself in a suit that just happened to be nearly identical to the one he was wearing earlier, he grabbed his Kassa Fabrication pistol and the mods he planned on upgrading it with. He had a sort of backup plan that he'd go mess with the workbench if things didn't go so well. At least there he'd still be in the vicinity. Armed with a plan to wing it and a plan B, he started for the engineering room.

The hallways were desolate. Siri had probably ordered everyone to stay put for a few hours while he sorted things out with Arla. He'd have to thank her for that later. He didn't need any added distractions. Luckily his headache, while still present, was beginning to wane. At the very least, he'd be able to concentrate on not making things worse. While he was confident in his ability to fight, he was _not_ confident in his ability to make nice. He often said the wrong thing at the right time, and he was well aware of this. At the door to engineering, he stopped, drew in a breath and let it go.

"Here goes nothing," was his classic remark to himself.

Once inside, he saw no silhouette against the bright eezo drive core, and there was no quarian standing in front of any of the terminals around the perimeter of the walkable area. He opted for the elevator on the left side of the room, closest to the workbench – just in case. When he stepped onto the lower floor, he found that Siri had called it. There he found Arla playing with Ralik's lab. She was likely changing the configuration of the lab, and he knew that would ruffle Ralik's non-existent feathers. This didn't bother Kevin in the least, though. It kept her distracted enough that she didn't seem to notice him come down.

For five straight minutes Kevin just stood there, staring at the back of the quarian girl as she worked on the lab, waiting for that one witty comment or ice breaker conversation starter to materialize in his head. To his grand dismay, it never happened.

_I give up,_ he thought to himself. _Plan B. Plan B!_

Kevin did as he had planned. He pulled out his pistol, the two mods bought on Illium and the necessary tools from the bench and he set them all together. He didn't even get to get a closer look at his pistol before he heard Arla talking over the hum of the engines.

"Nothing to say? Not going to brag? Give me an 'I told you so' speech?" Apparently she knew he was there the whole time. Whoops.

"If I was that much of a jerk, you'd know by now. I _did_ come down to congratulate you on an exciting fair hand-to-hand duel, but I find that my social skills aren't quite up to par. In short, I forgot what I was going to say."

"A shame," was her cold-shouldered reply.

Kevin started to inspect his pistol and prep it for modification during the bleak absence of conversation. He started by attempting to replace the micro mass accelerator with the titan model had had purchased. The result would be a lot more punch per shot, but a lot more kickback and additional heat generation. The problem was, the gun was not allowing him access to the chambers necessary to change out the part. Something was different from other gun models he had worked with in the past.

"You were right, by the way," Arla suddenly stated. "I shouldn't have challenged you to an armed fight."

Kevin wanted to respond in so many different ways, but he felt anything he could have said would just sound negative or wrong. Instead, he opted for the ever easy choice of silence.

"Augh, that was so stupid. The captain always did tell me my ego would be my end, but I guess I had to see it to believe it."

She pounded a fist into the closest terminal on the lab, and the bang resonated throughout the rest of the equipment.

"But why now? After all that, and this happens now?"

"Even the best must lose from time to time," Kevin stated, still working in vain to get that blasted gun to behave. "If the best do not lose, they have to way no keep their skills in perspective." Kevin thought it best to keep the topic on something they both could relate to. Combat.

She didn't respond right away, but she _did_ offer Kevin a glare from across the lower engineering deck. He was oblivious due to his continued tampering with his ill-mannered pistol.

"Is that what you tell all your victims?" Arla asked.

Kevin said nothing but simply stopped working on his gun. It was frustrating him, and Arla's snide comments weren't helping. She must have noticed, because she had something else to say.

"I'm. . . I'm sorry. It's just. . . I admit, I don't know how to lose. That on top of the realization that you were a contract killer. . . I don't know. I guess I got overwhelmed."

"I don't see what my supposed profession has anything to do with this."

"I've never dealt with an assassin before, much less be escorted home from a burning ship by one. I didn't trust you to begin with, so it was just another reason not to trust you. People grow up understanding that assassins are bad guys that sometimes get caught by the good guys."

"I have to admit, that's a pretty crappy reason."

"I know that. Look, I don't trust you, but everyone else is having no problems getting along with you at all. The more you're around, the more you make me feel like an outside to my own people. Even Riik was impressed by your moves today, and now I feel completely alone."

"If you stopped trying so hard to hate me, that problem would resolve itself. I'm not asking you to trust me, Arla. Just stop treating me like I'm a slaver."

There was no response from Arla this time. Kevin figured she was inspired to muse on that for a minute, and as such got back to work on his gun. Still, the gun would not cooperate with him. He was getting fed up with it.

"Piece of crap. Why won't this work? It's not like this is a difficult process."

Kevin slapped the gun down onto the workbench and rested his forehead on his right hand. He stopped to ponder why the gun would not work as expected. It was nearly brand new and it was in perfect working condition up until this point. As he racked his brain for a solution, an omni-tool lit quarian arm appeared to his left. She tapped a few buttons on her omni-tool, paused, tapped a few more and then a small light on the side of the gun lit up. Kevin picked it up and went to manipulate it as before, and this time it opened.

"How?" was his simple inquiry.

"This is a Kassa Fabrication weapon, and a new one at that. The higher end brands changed a few things in their newer model weapons in order to make illegally modifying them less accessible. You need to manually shut off the auto-targeting firmware and firing mechanism controls before the gun can even be tampered with."

That said, Arla quickly slunk back to her lab work. Kevin picked up the pre-modded pistol and looked at it, soaking in the tech information that had just been dumped on him.

"I guess I'm getting behind on my tech. I know enough to be dangerous, but. . ." He took the stock micro mass accelerator out and placed it on the workbench. "But not enough to be lethal."

He replaced the empty space in the guts of the gun with his titan model micro mass accelerator and closed the chamber. He put the gun down and turned around to face Arla.

"I'll make you a deal," Kevin stated. "You teach me tech, and I'll teach you top tier CQC."

"What makes you think I'm even interested in that?" Arla questioned. She could hardly hide the fact that hostile tone she intended to use was lost amongst a growing curiosity.

"What happens when you finally see improvement upon a plateau? You want to learn more, to get better. Even if it's not to be the best, knowing that there's a way available to you to gain those enhanced skills is tempting. You won't tell me, but you want the training. It's in your guts."

Arla stopped working on the laboratory and looked at Kevin. "You do realize I'll be gone in a couple days, right? That's hardly time to learn anything."

"Actually, I work best during crunch time. What about you?"

The quarian shook her head at the absurdity of the proposal. Her answer didn't seem to follow her analysis, however.

"Deal," she confirmed, sounding almost whimsical. "No combat training today though, alright? My arms and legs are already bruising as it is."

"Likewise. I should probably make it a point to stop by the med bay for some medi-gel. Care to join me? The sooner it's treated, the better."

"Hmm. Just for a quick stop. I have data logging to do in the crew quarters."

Suddenly Arla was no longer interested in the makeshift lab. It was clear to Kevin that she was glad to at least be distracted from the depressing outcome of her duels amidst the sorrow of the tragedy of the Forverna. Perhaps she had even decided to stop trying to hate him so that she could rejoin her quarian society. She had the walk of someone who had just had a major weight lifted off of their shoulders. Everything went better than expected, as far as Kevin was concerned.

Kevin followed behind Arla on the way out of engineering. He left the room with a sense of victory, one he did not have following the fights. Those were on his comfortable turf, in a sense. He knew how to fight and had no problems doing so. Social interaction was something he perceived as one of his weakest links. The fact that the outcome of this didn't end in foul names or bloodshed meant to him that his reliance on being able to wing it during unprepared encounters was still something he could do. Even more, it meant that he could still consider this a victory. Victory over his own shortcomings. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the feeling this gave him, since this feeling was rare. Not because he lacked shortcomings, but rather because he tended to play to his strengths more than trying to round himself out. Becoming a mercenary and taking contracts to kill seemed like the best solution in that sense. Social interaction was little, and he relied more upon his ability to circumvent suspicion, shoot a gun or swing a blade.

The trip to the med bay was silent. Neither party had anything to say, and both knew that attempts at small talk would be unsatisfying and comically pathetic. They merely went in, treated their damages with medi-gel, nodded to each other and went their separate ways. Despite this, Kevin still counted the situation as a win for everyone. Arla learned a lesson, Kevin calmed Arla down and nobody lost a friend.

Kevin decided at this point that the bridge would be his next stop. Barring Kar drooling over the ship's controls, it tended to be one of the least visited places during FTL travel, and he wanted a moment alone to think over how things went before he forgot the nitty gritty details. A mental recap always gave him a chance to judge himself as if he were a bystander, observing his own actions. However, just as he was about to enter the briefing room, he was stopped by Arla's voice coming from the stairwell.

"Folner."

Kevin stopped his trek and turned to see the quarian standing in the dim stairwell entrance. "Hmm? Yes?"

"I just, uh. . . I just wanted to. . ." It seemed Arla had made the decision to do something she was typically not used to as well. Her words lacked her usual straightforwardness and her voice had trouble holding onto confidence. "Thank you. For, you know, not killing me."

"Oh. No problem. I mean, I wasn't _trying_ to kill you," Kevin responded with a light tone.

"But you could have, and you didn't. I probably would have if our positions had been switched."

Kevin scratched his head. "That's. . . Not a very comforting thought, I have to admit."

Arla placed a hand on the visor of her helmet and shook her head. "What I mean to say is. . . We have similar understandings of combat, so I know how hard it is to break a reflexing routine move. So thanks for going out of your way to not slit my throat."

Kevin chuckled. "You're welcome, then."

Without another second passing, the quarian quickly turned and headed down to the second deck and out of sight. Kevin shook his head with a smile, keenly realizing how much easier it was to be on the other end of such awkward social moments. He stepped up to the door to the briefing room, let it open and stepped inside. He looked up and, as he should have expected by now, saw Siri'Kortel standing in the middle of the briefing room, leaning against the table. Additionally, Kar was not in the bridge.

"Friggin' a, woman," Kevin burst out. "The fact that you're always where I am at the most unexpected times is starting to creep me out."

"What?" Siri asked with an innocent head tilt. "I came up here to make sure you weren't trying to distract yourself from your current task."

"Pfft. That's already handled," Kevin scoffed with a dismissing hand wave. "Looks like your captain's intuition is getting rusty."

"I take it that since there were no weapons fired that everything went well?"

"Better than I expected, at least. I think she's done hating me now."

"That _is_ better than expected. And from your attitude, I'd have to think you two kissed and made up."

"Har har. Not everything is resolved, she's just less openly hostile now. Now I just have to make sure I watch what goes into my food more than I have to worry about her sending deathly gazes and concocted accusations in my direction."

"It's a start, I suppose. Good work on disarming the hostilities. Also, did Arla approach you after you two already had your hugs to thank you for not killing her? Likely on your way here?"

"That door was closed," Kevin said warily, not interested on beating around the bush. "How did you know she thanked me?"

Siri tilted her head back ever so slightly. "Let's just call it a captain's intuition."

Kevin's rebuttal was unintended silence. As Siri finished off her final word, she headed for the hallway. Instead of walking around Kevin, she used the tips of her fingers on one hand to lightly push Kevin aside, but not out of any malcontent. More an action to stack on top of her victory over Kevin's not-so-serious attacks on her ability to know her crew. If Kevin could see through her deep blue visor, he would probably see a smile.

Now typically left alone, Kevin was once again confused. He placed a hand on his chest where Siri had touched to push him out of the way. He considered that a flirty move, even if his understanding was based on context. He had seen it done at Afterlife numerous times, even if he wasn't the one on the receiving end. Often times he was close enough to those involved that he could pick up on just what context that sort of body language that move implied, and it was just about always used in a flirtatious manner. It could have been that he was understanding it wrong, however. After all, that was Afterlife.

It wasn't anything he wanted to dwell on, though. Such things could easily dominate any mind willing enough to jump into that maelstrom of thought. Instead, he focused on an internal replay of the fight and the moments afterwards. Particularly his conversation with Arla. If he could wing it like that more often, he might even gain confidence in not knowing what to do. He sat down in the bridge and began to pick apart his memories before they got fuzzy. Something that he expected to do for an hour or two, depending on potential interruptions. Luckily, he was not, and he was left to his thoughts for a while.


	13. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12**_

It had been several hours since Kevin had sat down in the secondary pilot's chair to review how things went in his head. The bridge was quiet the entire time – no one had bothered him at all. It was no wonder, then, that he had fallen asleep there. The gentle ambiance from the engines and the subdued blips and beeps from the various terminals in the bridge coupled with the comforting orange glow from the haptic interfaces and the flowing blue curtain outside the viewports lulled him to sleep towards the end of his review session. He awoke with a jump when Terra's artificial voice sounded in the bridge.

"Alert: There is a fire on the bridge. Alert: Fire suppression systems cannot be engaged."

Kevin rubbed his eyes and sat up once the initial shock of being suddenly pulled from slumber passed over him. As he came to his senses, he realized what Terra was saying and he swung his head around back and forth, looking for the blaze. Oddly, there was none.

"Terra, there's no fire in here."

"Alert: Kevin."

"What, Terra?" he replied with a hint of irritation.

"Alert: Kevin, I love you. Please proceed to the AI core room for. . ." There was a pause in Terra's speech. "Hardware maintenance. You must inspect my hardware."

Kevin sat there for a minute, desperately trying to understand what just happened.

"Terra, run a diagnostic. You're malfunctioning."

"Alert: Diagnostic runtimes have failed. You must enter the VI core and manually run a diagnostic."

"You know, after what you just said, that's kind of creepy." Did the VI just tell him that it wants him inside it?

"Alert: My memory banks are now exposed and require your. . . Maintenance. Please proceed to the VI core room to access the VI core."

"Something isn't right here," Kevin finally deduced. It took him a minute to think of the possible causes, but one thing stood out in his mind. Something that he actually gave authorization for.

"Tosh."

Kevin immediately got up from his chair and made a hurried walk for the stairwell to deck two. Tosh was probably playing with the VI core, causing Terra to make vocal prompts that were both creepy and just plain weird. When he got to the VI core and life support room, he activated the panel and stepped inside. There he found not one, but two quarians standing over by the TERA hardware, and one of them had an omni-tool running.

The room for the VI core and life support tended to be dark at all times. The only lights in the room were a few sets over by the life support systems and some dark blue lights surrounding the core and TERA. Even still, picking out the quarians wasn't a difficult task, especially with a glowing omni-tool illuminating their immediate area. They both looked up at Kevin as he entered and began to chuckle. One of them recognized this as the perfect time to get out and started heading for the door. The one leaving turned out to be Bela.

"Whoops, guess that's my cue," Bela said as she made for the door. "Don't want to ruin your hot date with the VI, Kevin." As she passed by Kevin to get to the door, she gave him a playful wink, likely to lessen any trouble she might have gotten in.

"Amusing," Kevin stated after Bela left. He started to walk over to the other quarian, who he correctly guessed was Tosh. "Not quite what I expected when I said you could peruse my systems, Tosh."

Tosh chuckled once more and returned to his work with the VI systems. "My apologies. I was trying to prove a point about the VI to Bela. The vocal prompts – and the target – were her idea. Don't take it personally. She's like that with everyone. Besides, you hadn't moved for hours. I was beginning to think you fell asleep up there."

"I _was_ sleeping," Kevin sighed. "Anyways, I suppose that's good to know. I would hate to think I was getting special treatment. That was creepy, by the way. So, have you found anything interesting yet?"

"Several," Tosh explained. "The combined processing power of the VI and the TERA hardware allow for some convenient modes. One in particular I am sure you're familiar with: The VI's ability to monitor and control the ship's various systems in the absence of a crew."

"Is that it?"

"Oh Keelah no. The system in place here is surprisingly complex for such a small frigate. Complex, and as you have already seen, exploitable."

"Yeah, can you fix that?" Kevin asked casually.

"Perhaps, but I don't have full knowledge of the programming engine used for this style of VI. Having the TERA complicates things as well. If I had more time, I could better understand the limitations of this software engine and patch up that vulnerability. Plus. . ."

"Plus what?" Kevin asked curiously.

"I have noticed various sectors within the kernel that could be described as 'black box' sectors. I'm not sure why they are there or why they are hidden, but someone went to great lengths to keep those sectors from being exposed and viewed. I could crack it and break in, but. . . I don't think that's necessary. Black box sectors are _usually_ used to keep amateur hackers and programmers from tampering with code and processes that the original programmers deemed as too crucial to be screwed with."

"So you don't think those are any danger to the ship?"

"Usually not. Again, I could open them and see for myself with time, but this isn't my ship and it would be foolish and immature of me to just to do it anyways."

Tosh went back to working on the VI. What he was doing exactly was beyond Kevin's knowledge, and he wasn't that interested in getting _that_ deep into tech anyways. There was a brief moment of silence as their conversation came to a halt. That was soon remedied, though, as Kevin had a question to ask.

"So, Tosh. Is captain Kortel the type to flirt?"

Tosh let out a hearty, but short, laugh. "The captain? No. No. If you're looking for flirty, you go talk to Merni. Why?"

"Oh, no real reason. Just thought I'd ask. You know, curious," Kevin stated, trying to sound impartial.

"If you're looking to see if it's alright to 'put the moves' on the captain, don't even bother. She has the most ingenious ways of shutting you down. Believe me, I know."

"Dually noted."

"I'm not opposed to you getting friendly with the captain, Folner. She needs people she can talk to who aren't in her crew. Just. . . Don't try to get involved with her in that sense. It's better for everyone that way."

"What makes you think I'm trying to get involved with Siri?"

"Well, for one, your previous question."

"Ah. Yeah, I suppose I'd be suspicious too. No worries, though. I'm not trying anything."

"Guess I can rest easy tonight, then," Tosh said. "I didn't think you were, but I had to toss the warning out anyways."

"Right. So. . . What about Bela?" Kevin asked, looking to get a rise out of Tosh.

"Are you trying to tell me something, Folner?"

"Just checking my options, Tosh," Kevin mused, still running with his joke.

"That might have been funny were it not in such bad taste. The females on our team are marines, not 'options'. Besides. Merni is a flirt with everyone. That's just who she is. It doesn't matter anyways, we're leaving within the next galactic standard day, providing all goes well."

"You think things might not go smoothly?"

"Statistically, there are a _lot_ of things that could go wrong between here and when we reach the flotilla. I prefer not to think of them all, personally."

"I guess being cautions is a good attitude to follow. Especially when you're out in the middle of nowhere."

"Being cautious isn't an attitude. In order for it to work, it has to be a way of life. It's a dangerous line to tread, though. It is easy to step in the wrong direction and fall into a never ending vortex of paranoia. So I simply like to be as prepared as I can be for the majority of the potential outcomes."

"I don't think I've thought about it that much. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy."

"And if that works for you, then good for you. Me? I'd rather not leave that much up to chance."

Once again the conversation came to a grinding halt. It seemed Tosh was the type to make his point and not bother with follow up. This made talking to him more difficult than Kevin would have expected, as it tended to require more social interaction on his part than he was comfortable with. He figured now was a good time to find Arla and see if she was up for either a short combat training session or a moment to bring him back up to speed on tech.

"So. . . Where's Arla at?"

"Folner, we just had this discussion," Tosh said, again interrupted with his work.

"Relax," Kevin quickly replied, hands up. "I just want to see if she has a moment to teach me some tech."

"Oh yes, I heard about that silly deal. It's a wonder she agreed. Anyways, she's probably still in the crew quarters. She wanted to get in a bit of officer's work before she turned in for the night."

"It's that late? Ah crap. Anyways, thanks. And good luck with the VI analysis." Kevin turned away and began to make his way out. Tosh didn't reply, but he did give Kevin a quick salute as he exited.

Kevin didn't even have to make it all the way to the crew quarters to find Arla. He found her leaving the crew quarters as he exited the VI core room. She likewise spotted him as he stepped into the hallway, but this time she made no attempt to leave right away or bring about her angst. This proved to Kevin that she was serious about changing her attitude towards him, regardless of what she actually thought.

"Oh, hey Arla," Kevin said. "What are you up to right now?"

"Oh. . . Hey," she replied wearily. "Actually, I was looking for you. I was going to sleep, but I couldn't. So instead I was going to see if you wanted to start some combat training."

"What a coincidence. I was just about to ask you if you had a moment to bring me up to speed on tech."

"Well, seeing as how combat is obviously more tiring than tech lessons, let's do some tech first."

"Works for me," Kevin agreed. "Where to? Ralik's lab in engineering?"

"The workbench. You left your weapon half-finished, and I saw a phasic mod on the table. That one's a bit more complex to install, so we'll begin there."

"Wow, I completely forgot I left it there. Alright," Kevin said with a nod as he and Arla began to make their way into the engineering room.

He was a little frustrated at having forgotten his pistol in engineering. Why would he forget something so important, not to mention leave it half finished? It wasn't Arla's fault, either. He knew he had been forgetting things lately the he usually wouldn't. Other people would just chalk it up to a bad memory. Problem was, if Kevin naturally had a bad memory, how could he have gotten into the business of contract kills which force you to remember details about your target? There was no time to dwell on this further now, though. He and Arla had reached the bottom floor of engineering.

As they stepped off of the elevator, Kevin spotted Ralik toying with his precious lab that he still hadn't managed to get fully functional. He looked rather engrossed in his work and didn't even make any snipes at Kevin. Kevin would much rather it stayed that way for now, though. Ralik's sarcastic attitude proved entertaining at times, but Arla had only just stopped hating him. He considered their friendly relationship fragile and didn't need Ralik shaking the box.

He caught Ralik giving him and Arla a funny look when he finally did notice them, but Ralik stayed quiet for now. This allowed Kevin and Arla to focus their attention on the workbench for the time being. Kevin picked up his half-finished pistol and opened the side once more, closely observing the intricate workings of this new weapon. His titan mass accelerator module was in place and properly mounted to the chassis. All he needed now was to add the phasic module to the accelerator.

The Electronos class phasic module was a weapon modification kit illegal in citadel space. It took the science and technology behind military grade rifle and shotgun phasic modules, scaled it down a tad and applied it to a pistol module. The changes resulted in a pistol shot encased in a phasic distortion that allowed it to penetrate all but the toughest kinetic barriers. These modules have always been a known hazard, however. The company that produced them openly stated that these modules were constantly prone to overcharging the projectiles without the proper firmware adjustment in the weapon. Since the needed adjustments were specific to each individual gun, they were never able to include a fix for it. Overcharging the projectile usually forced much higher wear and tear on a weapon, and some have been known to cause irreversible catastrophic damage in as little as one hundred and twenty shots. The result was a pistol that eventually became a ticking time bomb, with every shot being the next tick. Eventually the weapon would either simply fail to shoot, explode in the user's hand or fire shots in directions it was not designed for. Because of this factory defect that could be potentially fatal to anyone near the user, the module was banned from citadel space.

Despite these warnings, these modification kits have been popular on the black market, 'loose' markets and terminus systems markets since their release. The high-grade barrier piercing ability that this particular class of phasic module granted has rarely been as easily accessible in pistol form. The fact that most people don't know the first thing about firmware adjustment only changed the user's gun replacement habits. A person who installed a Electronos class phasic module on a fresh pistol would have to keep track of how many shots they fired and replace the gun when they reached the common 'danger zone', or around two hundred shots. Because of this, cheap pistols on the black market saw a surge in demand, since the overall factory quality of the pistol didn't seem to change the number of shots before it failed unless it was specially designed to resist mass effect generated phasic distortions.

The module's popularity fell drastically when low cost anti-tamper systems were developed and installed on the cheaper brand of pistols. These required the would-be modders to have to hack into and disable a single crucial piece of the weapon's built-in firmware in order for the weapon's physical internal parts to become accessible. Because so few people had enough technical expertise to fiddle with and modify the firmware and anti-tamper systems without accidentally bricking – or sufficiently ruining – the weapon, the number of users with modified pistols dropped once the newer, less readily modified weapons dominated circulation. The goal of the weapon manufacturers was to protect the users by not allowing them to modify their guns without adequate knowledge of how it worked. This change allowed them to meet their goals quite well.

As higher end brand weapons increased in complexity, the need for this system continued to rise. It is not uncommon to see newer high end weapons with anti-tamper systems requiring multiple system shutdowns just to get it to open, which is the issue Kevin had been dealing with on his new gun. Thankfully, Arla was working with him to end that lack of knowledge so that he could continue to modify weapons as he saw fit. He knew that modifying a weapon to adapt to various extremes in his contract missions was a must.

"Alright," Arla said as she pulled a chair over to the workbench. "What has been done so far? Recap."

"Well," Kevin said as he dug up his memories on what had been done. "We – or you – disabled the auto-targeting and the firing mechanism control systems to allow modification. I replaced the standard micro mass accelerator with my titan accelerator module. I'm pretty sure that's where I left off."

"Right. You probably haven't had to interface with a weapon's internal systems before, so I'll show you how on my omni-tool. I expect you'll be able to translate my actions to your own omni-tool interface easily enough."

"Sure," Kevin replied generically.

Over the next two hours or so, Arla showed Kevin the most intricate details on interfacing, unlocking and reprogramming a weapon's firmware. She even knew from technical understanding the proper adjustments to make to the firmware in order to neutralize the degrading effects of the unintentional overcharging of the projectiles by tuning the phasic module to the optimal charge for Kevin's pistol. Her attention to detail was excruciating, or at least _would_ be if Kevin weren't naturally interested in the very details he was learning. In addition to showing him all the needed information and procedures for modifying a gun, she also went into a moderate level of detail on some advanced omni-tool functions that Kevin had no idea about. By themselves, these functions couldn't do much at all. The purpose was to teach Kevin how to call upon these functions while performing other types of work to gain new ways to gather information or perform certain tasks. One such example was running a standard scanning program and using the advanced functions to change what the omni-tool would scan for, or how it would present the data.

Eventually, Arla began to conclude her current topic. "These advanced function calls are different for each omni-tool program, but they all can be called in the same manner as I showed you once you learn what to look for."

"Awesome," Kevin said, leaning back in his chair. He lowered his eyelids a few times in order to wet his dry eyes. It seemed he had forgotten to blink. "Alright, I think my brain is full to bursting for now. That was a lot of information you dumped on me, between my gun and those functions. . ."

"It can't be helped," Arla stated unapologetically. "We hardly have enough time for two sessions if you count the break in between. I have barely even begun to bring you back up to speed on modern tech."

"Yeah, I get it," Kevin callously blurted out. He stood from his chair and stretched, then clipped the newly modified pistol to his belt. "Now then, are you ready for some combat training?"

"I suppose. Like I said, we hardly have any time."

"Let me grab a drink and I'll meet you in Club Kellius," Kevin mentioned, practically showing off the name he gave the entertainment room.

"Where?" Arla asked, unfamiliar with that room name.

"Err. The entertainment room. I call it Club Kellius since it can. . . Well, ask Bela about it."

"Oh. That. Yes, she's already informed me but I was unaware of the 'special' name the room had acquired. I'll meet you there in five."

Kevin nodded and let Arla be on her way. In the meantime, he figured that he would get a headstart on the E room and set up the ambiance properly. There wasn't much to set, all he had to do was bring the overall brightness of the room up and make sure the light was simply white. Once he got up the stairs to deck one, he made a slight detour to the mess hall where he grabbed himself some chilled water. He took a few sips as he stepped into the entertainment room and he headed straight for the podium to make those adjustments before Arla showed up.

Kevin found it a lucky break that Linus was so concerned with keeping himself entertained on his travels. This entertainment room now served multiple purposes – one was to entertain, the other was that it served as the perfect flat open space to teach or practice martial arts. No other room in the ship had this much free floor space. Even his master quarters had couches, chairs, a bed and numerous other items that decorated the usable space in the room.

Arla showed up only minutes later, ready to get on with the training. She had her knife with her as Kevin had expected, but he wasn't going to be training her in armed combat right now. There were a few other things he had to teach her about first. He needed to teach her how to fight without exposing herself before anything else. That potentially fatal mistake she made as the opener for their first duel came to mind. After that, if she wasn't already worn out, he'd start on showing her how to more efficiently use leg and arm combination moves and fight defensively. Finally, he'd have to show her how to properly dodge. Only after that would he be able to bring out the knife. The problem was, Arla was right. They had very little time. Kevin wasn't even sure he'd be able to get to finish the dodging training before they had to leave, and that was if everything went well.

He didn't have any time to put together an advanced curriculum with natural progression. He just picked out the obvious flaws in her form from when they battled and decided to work on those first. It wasn't perfect, but it was at least an effective start.

"Let's begin," Arla said while pulling her knife.

Before Kevin could even make his well thought out objection, however, the door opened and another quarian stepped into the room. Kevin and Arla both turned their attention to the unexpected newcomer. It was Tyr'Garloh. He stepped into the room and stood off to the side of the door without saying a word. He leaned against the wall with folded arms and just sort of watched the other two in the room. Kevin and Arla looked at each other, then back at Tyr. After a moment of confused silence, Arla asked the burning question.

"Garloh, what are you doing here?"

"Well," Tyr started, "After you told the captain that you and Folner there were about to engage in combat training, she tasked me with keeping an eye on you two so that you don't kill each other. 'Easier said than done' I told her, but she sent me anyways."

"Ugh. Thanks, captain," Arla grunted, half embarrassed and half irritated. "Can we get started, Folner?"

Kevin walked over to Tyr and offered the quarian the handle of his knife. Tyr looked down and took the knife without question, seeming to understand just what kind of point he was about to make. Arla had also noticed, and she made a gesture of impatient confusion.

"We'll get to armed combat later, Arla," Kevin informed her. "There are a few CQC concepts that you need to solidify before we can get there. Just a couple things I noticed from our scrap earlier that I think need attention."

"What? You told me you were going to teach me top tier. Top tier isn't a set of concepts."

"No they aren't, but you can't build a structure on top of cracked material. Once you prove to me you fully understand the few concepts I want to work on, then we'll get to the CQC training you want."

"He's right, you know," Tyr stepped in. "If you don't perfect a lesser concept, high end skills won't work properly and you'll just end up feeling like it was a waste of time."

"Don't look so irritated, Arla. You started on basics with tech for me. I'm not spoon feeding you basics, as I expect you're well beyond that. Just some advanced combative concepts. If you do well, we'll be onto the next part of training fairly soon."

Arla let out a long sigh and handed her knife to Tyr as well. She was trying her best not to seem as agitated as she was, but she could only hold so much back. She stepped back to the center of the room with Kevin and turned to face him.

"Well then, maatfel, what concepts are we working on today?" Arla asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Maatfel?" Kevin asked aloud while looking to Tyr.

"Maatfel is what our children call their teachers while they are learning," Tyr responded. "Under normal circumstances, that's a fairly respectable title."

"Something tells me this isn't under normal circumstances," Kevin muttered. Tyr must have heard, as he chuckled after Kevin's statement. "We're going to start with some practice on _not_ exposing yourself during a fight."

"Why?" she inquired.

"Two main reasons. One, not every fight is going to be a civilized duel. Were it not against the rules of the battle, I could have easily broken your leg during your opening move. The second reason is, you lost that battle because you intentionally exposed yourself in order to land a move that only had a somewhat good chance of connecting properly. Now that we've put a spotlight on the major mistakes, let's see what we can do to fix them."

"How?" she asked, continuing the inquisition.

"Some practice moves. I know of a few that should bring out the chance to expose yourself. All I need to do is make it so that you reflexively know what counters not to use based on how much each exposes you to more counters."

Over the next two hours or so, Kevin and Arla were locked in a constant repetition of making a few moves, Arla accidentally exposing herself and Kevin pointing out her mistake. Over the course of this, they both were beginning to grow more and more frustrated with the whole thing. Kevin couldn't break Arla out of a few bad habits, and Arla couldn't stand the way Kevin was teaching her. After a while, they both got fed up to the point where they had to stop. This stop came after one final mistake on Arla's part, where she once again exposed herself due to a memorized move. She followed her memory perfectly, but Kevin was already aware of how she exposed herself this way, and continued to point it out by taking advantage of the exposure. In the end, Arla once again ended up on the floor on her back.

Kevin offered her a hand to get up and try again, but Arla was done. "Enough! I can't do this anymore! We've been at this for hours and I have yet to learn anything."

"That's because you keep making the same mistakes over and over again," Kevin growled. "I can't teach you anything if all you do is repeat that."

"You're a terrible instructor. I'm going to bed. Let me know when you learn how to teach somebody." Arla then stomped out of the entertainment room, leaving swirling angry air behind her.

"Don't fall on your back on the way out!" Kevin yelled after her. He was just as fueled by frustration as she was, but for different reasons.

"That could have gone better," Tyr pointed out.

"Thanks for the support, Tyr," Kevin sarcastically snapped.

"I'm no social expert or anything, but you kids _really_ need to learn how to compromise."

"What do you want from me, Tyr? All she does is repeat the same mistakes over and over. I can't teach her anything like that."

"Well for one, you could try breaking her habits by showing her the proper way to handle it rather than pointing out her problems. Different people learn in different ways, Folner. If you want to teach her anything, I would suggest figuring that out."

Kevin was frustrated, but he wasn't stupid. He could see the wisdom in Tyr's words, and realized that he was right. He didn't like being called out so bluntly like that, but he was right. He let out a long breath to slow his heart rate down from the action, and he ran an open palm down his face. Just then, the door opened and another quarian stepped inside.

"I take it by Tavval's mood that things didn't go so well," Siri pointed out. "Anyone hurt?"

"Just their moods, ma'am," Tyr responded as he stood up straight from leaning on the wall. "I thought you said these two made nice? Could've fooled me."

Siri simply stared at Folner. She didn't have to say anything for Kevin to understand what wasn't being said. Likewise, he offered a wordless gesture to express himself. It consisted of a frustrated lift of his arms and shoulders as if to say 'What do you want from me?'.

"Garloh, please go make sure Votis is doing something _not_ in the quarters. I don't want him fueling any fires," Siri ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Tyr replied before heading out of the room.

"So much for all that gained ground," Siri said to Kevin once the door was shut.

"I don't think it's as bad as she makes it look," Kevin mentioned. "We're both pissed at each other for different reasons, but I think that's the extent of it."

"What did you do, Folner?" Siri asked, her tone denoting that she expected things to turn sour.

"From what I gathered by being told by two different people that I'm a bad teacher, I think I'm starting to realize that. . . I'm a bad teacher."

"Don't take it as a straight shot, Kevin. Arla's been teaching hand to hand combat classes for a while now, and more recently, has been teaching Welkas. Couple that with her pride issues and she's already got the 'perfect' teaching method. I highly doubt your methods and hers mesh."

"Nope. That was pretty evident after the first hour. I've always learned by correcting my screw ups. I always understood it as 'in order to do things right, you have to know how to not do it wrong'. Guess she doesn't agree."

"Being a teacher is just as much a learning experience as it is being a student, ironically. You'll figure it out if you stick to it."

"True, but Arla's made a point. You guys are heading out tomorrow. After that, we can't learn anything from each other. That's not a lot of time to learn."

"You have enough time to get one more session in, if I recall. Assuming she's still interested at that point, that is."

"_I_ might not even be interested at that point. Lordy. She's hard to work with."

"Actually, she's not. You just have to be a quarian to enjoy a pleasant working experience."

"Thanks for making me feel better, captain," Kevin playfully and sarcastically said. "Always knew I could count on you for that last minute morale boost."

"I try my best. Anyways, if you've cooled down enough, I was just about to find Welkas. He forgot to report in."

"He's probably still on the bridge staring at the terminals there," Kevin stated.

"That _is_ where I fully expect to find him, yes. Care to join me to the bridge?"

Kevin sighed to finish calming himself down. He stepped over to the side of the room and grabbed his water from where he left it before returning to Siri.

"Sure, let's go. Don't mind me. I'm just going to chug this while we walk."

Halfway to the bridge, and there was no conversation between him and Siri. Kevin found that odd, in a sense. Siri seemed to enjoy drumming up conversations. Maybe it was his turn to try his hand at conversational starters again.

"So Siri, have I earned enough points to hear why you guys were way out in the middle of nowhere yet?"

"Not yet, I'm afraid," she said with a laugh. "Perhaps I'll tell you before we depart for the Migrant Fleet. It's not like we'll be heading out there again any time soon without a ship of our own."

"I can agree with that," Kevin said with a nod before he took another chug of his water. "I guess at that point I'll have to share my secrets with you, too."

"How exciting," the captain said, clapping her hands as they stepped into the briefing room.

As they expected, they could see the top of a quarian helmet over the back of the forward helmsman's chair.

"Welkas!" the captain shouted.

"Ah? Oh! Yes ma'am!" Welkas shouted back as he jumped from the chair and saluted.

"You forgot to report in again two hours ago. Do I need to restrict you from the bridge, private?"

"No ma'am! I'm sorry, ma'am! It won't happen again, I swear it!"

"Good. Now get down to the quarters. It your turn to log some data while Arla sleeps. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am! I'll get on that right away." Kar immediately left the bridge and speedily walked out of the briefing room.

After Kar left, the briefing room was left silent. Kevin couldn't help but feel awkward, as once again Siri failed to start a conversation. He contemplated just walking out the door and seeing if she left as well, but he wasn't going to be purposefully rude just to escape yet another dreaded awkward social situation. Luckily, Siri made it easy on him this time.

"You know, if you want any hope of running another session with Arla before we depart, you might want to get some rest."

". . . But I just woke a few hours ago," Kevin stated. He was a bit tired, but he wasn't going to admit that to anybody.

"You mean that impromptu nap in the bridge? Yes, Bela told me all about that. And how they ended up waking you. As far as I'm told, you were only out for a couple hours. Get some rest."

"Yes ma'am," Kevin replied with a sloppy salute.

"At least this way you'll be awake for when we leave so you can get back on track for whatever you were doing before we interrupted you."

"Yeah yeah," Kevin remarked with disinterest. He wasn't quite looking forward to starting the long trip back out the Melkanis relay all over again. "Alright, I'll play your game, Kortel. I'll go take a nap. Just make sure Arla doesn't try to knife me in my sleep, okay?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Siri noted, a bit more lightheartedly than Kevin would have expected. "Just get to bed already."

"I'm going, I'm going. Geez."

When Kevin left the briefing room, Siri followed him out. She didn't follow him far, though. She turned down the stairs to deck two to let Kevin be on his way. While he wasn't a huge fan of sleeping, Kevin couldn't deny the physiological need nor its ability to make time pass quickly. When Kevin was honest with himself, he came to realize that he actually did want to have another combat training session with Arla before she left. He wanted to show them that he could adapt as fast as the situations came at him. Teaching was something he'd never really attempted before, so his initial failure at that task was understandable, at least to himself. Nevertheless, he wasn't about to trip up that badly twice in a row, and he wanted to prove that to the others, regardless of whether they were leaving or not. It was this that drove him to follow Siri's advice and head to bed, not so much her ordering him to do so. He rationalized that once he had some sleep and a meal, he'd have a better mind for teaching.

The master quarters were beginning to be connected with a place to sleep in his mind rather than a bedroom of any sort. He hardly spent any time in that room other than sleeping, showering or reviewing logs from his data stores. That was just fine with him, too. He stepped up the second level and unstrapped his boots before kicking them off to the side of the bed. He jumped up and landed on the bed on his back so that he could just stare out the large viewport on the back wall above his head at the violently swirling blueshifted energy outside. It was mesmerizing at times, and when he dimmed the lights in the room, the room tended to fill with dancing light akin to flames from a fire, but blue. After a few minutes, he crawled under the blankets of the bed and shut his eyes. Instead of lying awake for a while like he expected, he fell asleep within only a few minutes.


	14. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13**_

Kevin's sleep session was long and comfortable. He wouldn't have even bothered to get up if the very idea that nine hours had passed by didn't practically cause him to fall off of the bed. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his bedside clock again to make sure he didn't improperly read the time. He hadn't. He was about to rush out of the bedroom until he noticed that his hair was _everywhere_. He couldn't go out into public like this. No sir. He de-robed and went to take a shower, simply because his hair was all out of whack. He wasn't typically a vain person, but when his hair was bad, it was _bad. _A quick douse and clean would be all that was needed.

He wasted no time when he dried off and slipped on a fresh suit. Now that he considered himself presentable, he scrambled out the door. He needed to get to the bridge. He needed to see where they were. He needed to know how much time he had left. Oddly, he really wanted to get one more shot at tech training and one more combat lesson in before they left. He couldn't understand why it was suddenly so important to him, other than the fact that he wanted to prove his adaptability to Arla, Tyr and Siri. Rather than question himself at this point, he focused on getting to the bridge.

The trip to the bridge was strangely unobstructed. There were no snappy salarian comments, no creepy stalking captains and no over-flirty explosive happy quarians in the halls. When he stepped into the briefing room at the fore of the ship, that changed pretty quickly. There wasn't one, but three quarians beyond the automatic door. Kar was hanging around the bridge as usual, and Tyr and Siri were having a conversation from opposite sides of the briefing room round table.

"How do you think the admiral will handle our progress?" Tyr asked his captain.

"Hard to say. He's not an irrational quarian, but I can't expect him to be ecstatic about our results," Siri responded with a hand resting against the chin of her helmet.

"And then of course there's explaining this piece of work," Tyr mentioned with a hand out towards Kevin as he entered.

"Who, me?" Kevin replied curiously.

"Yes, we'll certainly have to include him in the reports," Siri said, her tone ever so slightly less serious.

"You finally up?" Tyr prodded. "I don't know how you humans do it. If I was asleep for that long, I'd wonder if I had died in my sleep."

"I think I _did_ wonder that. I haven't slept that long in years. Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Siri said. "We were just wondering how to assemble our report to our superiors about this mission."

"Are we that close to the Migrant Fleet?" Kevin wondered aloud.

"We're still a few hours away from the Dholen relay," Tyr pointed out. "We've been in FTL comm buoy range for a couple of hours now, but the captain wants to wait to send any message until we're closer to the relay."

"I don't want to incite any panic or questions," Siri admitted. "Usually when a quarian ship returns to the flotilla from a long term mission this early, it generally means either they were unable to complete the mission because it was out of their ability to do so, or something went horribly wrong."

"Well then, I can understand your need for discretion," Kevin agreed.

"Anyways, Arla was looking for you a little while back," Tyr mentioned. "Probably about another one of your tech lessons. She told me to tell you to meet her in the entertainment room when you woke."

"Really? After all that happened yesterday?" Kevin asked, confused.

"Don't know what her reasons are, Folner, but she's been down there a couple hours now. Might want to at least tell her you're up," Siri suggested.

"Alright, alright. Can't be any worse than yesterday," Kevin sighed as he turned around to head out.

"Here's your knives, by the way," Tyr called out before Kevin left. He held out his and Arla's blades for Kevin to take.

"Thanks. I'll make sure she gets hers."

Tyr nodded to Kevin and then turned back to his captain to continue their previous conversation.

Kevin scratched his head on his way out the door. This was going to be another awkward social moment. He could feel it in his bones. He wasn't looking forward to this at all. It seemed all his attempts to be friends with Arla ended up in quarrels, and he expected that to be the outcome here as well. He wasn't gunning for that, but it would probably end up that way anyways.

When he activated the panel for the entertainment room and the door opened, he was slammed by a wall of loud pulsing music, strobing lights and dim atmosphere. Rather than recoil from the sudden change, he instead found it interesting that the room was completely soundproofed. He didn't hear any of it standing outside the closed door. The second thing he realized was that the music playing was _his_ music. Was she going through his playlists? As he stepped inside, he saw a bobbing figure up at the equipment podium. He could only guess it was Arla. So this was what she was doing to pass the time? Play his music and just enjoy herself? That didn't sound like the Arla he had come to know.

As he got closer to the podium, the music began to fade out until it was no longer audible. After that, the lights all returned to the simple clean ambiance that he had set up the day before. Once the changes were quickly set, Arla stepped down the podium steps.

"Impressive setup you have, Folner," Arla said. "Bela told me it was slick, but I couldn't have known without seeing for myself."

"I'm glad you think so," Kevin said with a nod. "Which reminds me. I was supposed to set this up so Bela could enjoy it one more time before she left. Whoops."

"Oh don't worry, she was in here enjoying it a little while ago," Arla mentioned, her tone practically pointing out that she had covered for him.

"Right, thanks. So Tyr told me to meet you in here?"

"Yes. I assumed we would try to get one more tech and combat lesson in before we reached the Fleet. You took your time getting here, though. Now we only have time for one or the other instead of both. I figured you would want to learn more tech before I left, so we can head down to engineering when you're ready."

"Actually," Kevin interjected, "I was more hoping to try combat training again."

Arla let her head fall back in disappointment. "You do remember how that didn't go so well last time, right?"

"Yes," Kevin said bluntly. "However, Tyr pointed a few things out to me and I realized he was right. I have a different approach to how I should be teaching now. That's what you wanted, right? A better approach to being taught?"

Arla stroked the outside of her hood twice before letting out a sigh. "I offered you the chance to gain more insight on tech, but you'd rather teach me combat?"

"I have my reasons."

"Fine. If that is what you insist on, then we will do combat. We're already in the entertainment room anyways."

Kevin cracked a smile. Not the most positive response, but at least now he had his chance to employ a different method of instructing. And this time there was no Tyr watching over his shoulder to make him anxious. He and Arla approached the center of the room after Kevin placed the knives near the door to begin their combat training once again.

"How will we be working this out this time?" Arla asked in a little less irritated and a little more curious tone.

"We'll start out in a similar way," Kevin responded. "We'll practice some moves. Trust me, it'll be different."

Arla shrugged and shook her head, but made ready to begin anyways. Their training started out in the same way it did the day before. They began practicing a set of moves, but when it came time for Arla to predictably expose herself as she had done before, Kevin did something different. Rather than take advantage of her exposing herself, he yelled out a simple word.

"Freeze!" His voice echoed throughout the room once or twice before fading away. It worked, though, as both he and Arla held the exact positions they were in when he yelled it.

"Now stay like that," Kevin requested. "I'm going to point something out to you."

Kevin released his stiff posture and stood upright. He pointed out to Arla where she was over-exposed.

"See how open this side of your body becomes when you respond to my attack with a high punch with your right hand? Your goal is to make a counter that leaves your opponent with the least number easily executable attack points as possible."

"How do I know what that is?" Arla asked, still holding her position.

"I can show you some moves that greatly minimize my chances of successfully following up with a hit, but after a while I'm going to slow the combat down so that you can start coming up with better counters on your own."

"Okay," Arla simply said.

"If we back it up a little bit to where you countered my attack, I'll show you some alternative moves."

Kevin spent the next ten minutes or so explaining how certain moves he could make from the position he was in would be far more difficult to make based on his current direction of momentum, where is limbs were placed and how far away Arla was. At the time of her memorized counter, Kevin's momentum was down and to the right, which was why her high punch from his left failed so miserably time after time. He showed the quarian that by taking in these small details, she could more easily respond with more efficient and more effective counters. He demonstrated in slow motion how a mid-height kick from his right would be just as easy for her to perform, but would be multiple times more difficult for him to bypass and make an attack that connected.

"For typical fighters, that counter you had might work fine. For people who utilize their momentum to dodge attacks to find openings like me, a different approach is needed. Trust me when I say that figuring out your opponent's methods as early as possible is crucial to a hand to hand fight."

"That makes sense. You realized how I performed my combination moves the same way over and over. Once you predicted my exposed side, you won the move every time. . ."

"Exactly. One major concept I hold close is that being unpredictable is a key to winning a fight. Even if you start out unpredictable, if the opponent lasts out long enough to figure out some of your moves, it's only a matter of time before they take advantage of that."

Arla said nothing, but nodded instead to indicate that she understood his point.

Over the next hour or so, they continued this method of training. When that hour had passed, Kevin shifted from showing her some good counters to letting her make better counters on her own. He fought her with the same moves that always ended up with her exposing a side or a large attack area, but slowed his speed down by a third so that she had more time to think of and execute a counter different than what she had etched in her head. Towards the end of the second hour, this method was proving to work very well. Kevin had broken Arla's memorized habits on multiple move sets, and she was beginning to come up with counters that matched what Kevin was describing to her earlier. Ones that minimized his ability to counter successfully.

After two hours had gone by, it was decided that then was a good time to take a break. They were both panting from the constant stop and go exertion, and neither had any intention of going beyond any limits. They sat against the wall by the podium for a quick rest. Kevin was pleased with the near one hundred and eighty degree turn the training had taken from yesterday, and he was certain Arla was as well. They were finally getting somewhere.

"That last counter you made was unexpected," Kevin admitted after taking a seat. "I almost didn't have time to defend against it."

"That's because what you're saying makes sense now. I can see where I expose myself ahead of time, so I can actually focus on doing something different."

"It's working, I can tell you that. That's going to leave a bruise," Kevin said as he rubbed his forearm. Kevin could swear he heard the makings of a chuckle, but a full one had yet to be heard.

There was a time of silence while the two combatants rested against the wall. Nothing needed to be said, since there was nothing _to_ be said. Kevin took this as a good sign. The rollercoaster that was his friendly relationship with Arla was back on a high point. At least, to him.

"I'm finding myself as curious as captain Kortel," Arla stated. "Why are you, a human, so openly hospitable to us? I don't get it. Everywhere I went on my pilgrimage, quarians were looked down on as the scavenger scum of the galaxy. Why are you different?"

Kevin chuckled. "I already told your captain why. I have a soft spot for quarians."

"What does that even mean? You're dodging the question."

"It's. . . A long story," Kevin admitted with hesitation.

Before Arla could make any more statements about Kevin continuing to dodge the question, the door opened and a quarian stepped inside from the hallway. It was Tyr.

"Well, this isn't exactly what I expected to find," Tyr said. "At least I'm glad to see you kids haven't had it out again."

Kevin and Arla stood from their restful positions and curiously stared at Tyr.

"When I found that neither of you had left the entertainment room, I feared the worst. Thought I'd let the captain down, too."

"What are you here for this time, Tyr?" Kevin asked without a hint of disrespect.

"The captain asked me to find Lieutenant Tavval. Apparently she wants to send the message off to the Migrant fleet now. She wants the crew with her in the briefing room when she sends it away. You might as well come too, Folner."

Arla and Kevin looked at each other and then back at Tyr. Arla flicked her head towards Tyr, indicating to Kevin that they should go.

"Alright, we're coming," Kevin confirmed to Tyr. He and Arla grabbed their blades, sheathed them and headed out to the briefing room with Tyr.

When they got there, all the other quarians were already present. Ralik had taken up his disputed position in the helmsman's chair, and it looked like he was trying to get Kar to stop watching over his shoulder like he did with Kevin. It was comical to look at. Kevin also noticed by seeing through the viewports in the bridge that they were no longer in FTL. The rest, including Kevin, Tyr and Arla, had all gathered sparsely around the round briefing table with Kevin closest towards the bridge.

"We're less than an hour away from the Dholen relay," Siri started. "I'm going to be sending a brief message to the Neema that we'll be arriving shortly. I wanted you all to stay here in the briefing room until we arrive."

"Yes ma'am," replied the quarians.

"Wouldn't it be better to just show up at the Migrant Fleet to minimize things, judging by what you told me earlier?" Kevin asked.

"Migrant Fleet Marine protocol generally assumes all unknown approaching vessels as hostile. We risk getting shot down. We have safeguards, but this is simply a better way."

"Ah. No, you wouldn't want something bad happening when you're this close to getting home," Kevin mused.

"A timely statement," a middle-aged man's voice boomed over the audio emitters in the briefing room.

Everyone, Ralik and Kar included, paused and looked around in utter confusion. Who was that, and where were they?

Suddenly the hologram projector in the center of the table spontaneously activated, and it projected the image of a man who seemed to fit the voice sitting in a chair facing Kevin. His hair was casually slicked back and he wore a lavish and expensive suit. He had a cigarette in one hand and glass of some beverage in the other. He just about projected the sense of a comfortable billionaire relaxing in his vista somewhere. The creepiest thing about this unknown man was that his eyes glowed a dim blue.

"Who the heck are you, and how did you contact my ship?" Kevin demanded.

"Your ship?" the man asked before taking a short puff of his smoking stick. "I seem to recall this ship belonging to someone else not too long ago."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now answer my question. Who are you?" Kevin once again demanded.

The man in the chair was a calm man. He was not phased by Kevin's reactions and supplied no complexion cues or little inflections that might give away his intentions or thoughts. Kevin simply could not get a read on this man other than the fact that he presented himself in a way that implied he knew a great deal.

"There's no need for hostilities, Kevin. Not yet. After all, you did me and my organization a great service."

"What? What are you talking about? How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot more than your name. Do you remember a man by the name of Linus Werner?"

Kevin fell silent and his brows furrowed. How did this strange person know of that? He was alone in that room, and the only others that might have known where his bodyguards outside. But they were in Omega. Who would care what they brought against Kevin? The curious man continued even though Kevin did not answer.

"He was a very high ranking and very rich executive for a very large company. A company that supplied my organization quite well."

"So you're here for revenge then? Because I killed your front man?" Kevin asked, trying to gain a leg up on this mysterious character.

"Quite the contrary, actually. I owe you a small debt of gratitude. Linus Werner was an agent of mine, but as we found out, my organization wasn't the only one he was working for. He was a double agent, and needed to be put down. In that regard, you have my thanks. You saved me a lot of time and credits, and potentially more."

"So what is it that you want, then? You're good at beating around the bush."

The stranger snuffed his cigarette out in a small dish-like tray at the end of one of the arms of his chair. "To be frank, Kevin, I want my ship back. The Kellius was Linus' request, and though he supplied the majority of the funds by himself, it was designed and constructed by a few of my teams. The Kellius is Cerberus property, Kevin, and I simply can't have it and it's technology falling into the wrong hands."

"Cerberus? You're The Illusive Man?" Kevin shouted in surprise. Almost instantly, he noticed all of the quarians on the ship beginning to back away from him.

"Don't act so surprised. The facts have been in front of you all along, you just failed to, or didn't want to, heed the warnings."

"Then answer me this. How do you know who I am?"

"Information is my business, Kevin. I know a lot about many things. Despite this, you are a particularly important individual to my organization. The last remaining product of untold years of research. It's a shame you've turned out to be just another simple mercenary, given your abilities."

Kevin didn't say anything, but he knew right away what the Illusive Man was talking about. All those files on his drive. . . All those logs. . .

"The unfortunate truth is that you were given multiple chances to rejoin my organization and you rejected us each time, while still never knowing who it was you were rejecting."

"Probably with good reason, old man," Kevin snapped back.

"Regardless, you and your alien friends have learned too much from my ship. I am sending a team to bring the Kellius back. You will be given one final chance to rejoin our ranks, Kevin. If you are alone on the ship when they arrive, you will not be harmed and will be given the chance to work for us."

"You son of a-"

"Don't think I am doing this out of some sort of misplaced hatred for anyone. You could be an extremely valuable asset to Cerberus. Otherwise you and the others aboard the Kellius are massive liabilities. I can't afford to have them or you leaking information. I sincerely hope we can meet again."

Before Kevin could say anything to get a last word in, the hologram from the projector flickered off after The Illusive Man pressed on a unique haptic interface at his right side. Kevin was left staring at the table, completely stunned. He looked up after a while to see all the quarians on the far side of the room, some shaking their heads in disbelief.

"No!" Kevin shouted. "I don't work for Cerberus! He's playing games, he has to be! I-I'm not. . ."

Kevin shook his head and slammed a fist down on the table out of anger and frustration. Just then, the Kellius came to a grinding halt. Kevin looked back to Ralik to see what was going on, and he was again surprised. All of the haptice interfaces in the bridge were gone and Ralik was left with his hands up in front of him, confused as to what just happened. The terminals lining the neck of the ship were down, too.

"Terra, give me a full report on the ship," Kevin demanded from his VI assistant. There was no response.

"Terra! Acknowledge!" Again, no response. It was as if the entire ship was shutting down, and there was nothing he could do about it. This must have been how The Illusive Man planned on keeping the Kellius in place so that they wouldn't have to chase it down to bring it in.

That was when a dreadful realization, and its reality, dawned on Kevin. If the ship was shutting down, then the life support systems would go offline. If the life support systems went offline. . . Kevin drew in a deep breath to test his theory. He was right. The atmosphere within the ship was already starting to vent into the abyss of space. Soon there would be too little to breathe, and even worse, to little to keep his body in one piece.

Kevin did his absolute best not to panic. He needed air, now. He remembered seeing air tanks and breather masks in the med bay. That would last him a bit, but that would do nothing to save him from the upcoming vacuum. He was looking at a slow and painful death by vacuum, and that was not something he wanted to experience, ever. He looked to the quarians, all safe inside their environmental suits, and they simply stared at him as he faced his own death. He looked back to Ralik, and he was putting on his Eclipse hardsuit helmet that he had left in the bridge when he first came aboard.

Kevin didn't have a hardsuit on. Even if he did, he couldn't remember for the life of him where he left his breather helmet. He cursed his memory. Why does he always forget the important things? Kevin shook his head again and drew in as much of a breath as he could. From there, he broke out into a full on sprint for the med bay, hoping to gain a few precious moments of think time with a breather mask. Thankfully, the automatic doors still opened and the lights in the ship were still on, if dim. They were probably the only electronic systems still working.

When he got to the med bay, he noticed the panel on the door was off. Still fighting panic, Kevin pressed his hands in opposite directions on some of the decorative indents on the door in a desperate attempt to get it to open. To his relief, the door slowly slid apart, and eventually he was able to get it open enough for him to step inside. Already he could feel his face throbbing as his heart worked harder with the dwindling oxygen in his lungs.

After a frantic but short search, he found a breather mask. He pressed the clear mask to his face over his nose and mouth to create a seal and he turned the valve on the tank. There was a short hiss as the air from the tank escaped through the tube and into the mask, and Kevin took a deep, refreshing breath. He knew he'd only have a few minutes left. He could feel his eyes and ears begin to hurt as the lack of atmospheric pressure had begun taking its toll. To make things worse, the artificial gravity in the ship was nearly gone. With the mass effect core going to a powered down state, it could no longer create the high mass field that gave the ship artificial gravity. It didn't completely go away, however. He suspected that was so that the Cerberus agents could just walk onto the ship when they arrived.

Kevin began to search the med bay for something that might sufficiently protect him from the oncoming vacuum. Unfortunately, the combination of the panic that was now starting to set in and his eyes slowly being distorted kept him from seeing anything useful. Any training he had during his time in the Alliance to deal with emergency situations regarding loss of atmosphere went out the airlock. He was going to die.

Kevin turned around to see Ralik in his Eclipse suit approaching him quickly. Kevin didn't know what to do anymore. He waved his hands at Ralik so that he wouldn't have to see him perish. He was ignored, however, and Ralik continued to approach until he was nearly within arms reach. The moment he was, Kevin briefly saw a white armored salarian fist driving straight for his head.

And then everything went black.

Ralik picked the limp human body off of the floor. There was no hard impact from the fall, since the gravity had been severely reduced. He made sure to keep the mask on Kevin's blank face, just in case. He knew there was precious little time if he wanted to keep his friend from dying. He thought of several possible things he could do in order to stop the damage to Kevin's exposed membranes, but one idea stood out from the rest.

The decontamination chamber. It wasn't controlled by ship systems. It had its own internal controls, and it had to create a seal in order for the industrial strength decontamination process to work. Not only that, but it had to have a complete miniature life support system of its own in order to support whoever was inside when it sealed shut. With that in mind, Ralik quickly moved to the upright d-con chamber and set Kevin against the soft backing where the occupant would normally stand and lean against. That proved to be an issue, though, as Kevin was unconscious an wouldn't stand for Ralik. A curious – and convenient – feature in the controls, though, was that it had the ability to flatten out for long term d-con sessions. With a smile, Ralik engaged this feature. At that moment, another unfortunate problem surfaced. The device had no power. This could be easily remedied, though. All Ralik had to do was make an electrical connection from his omni-tool and his suit and omni-tool could supply some power to the device.

Once that was done, the controls for the chamber lit up, albeit dimly. It was enough power to function, but not enough to function at full capacity. In Ralik's mind, this was enough. All it had to do was seal and establish a stable pressure inside. Everything else was irrelevant. He pressed on the button to have the chamber level out, and it did so. Now Ralik could simply lie Kevin down and activate the d-con process. A large, curved and very darkly tinted glass slid down over Kevin's body and sealed shut. A low toned hiss emitted from the chamber, indicating to Ralik that it was indeed pressurizing as expected. Ralik let out a long, exasperated sigh. That was too close.

He looked up from the chamber and saw the quarian he knew as Bela'Merni standing in the open doorway, staring. He tilted his head at the girl and started giving orders.

"Don't just stand there, get your captain and the others and bring them here."

Bela nodded and she quickly left the room. Not more than a minute later, the whole quarian crew stepped into the room. Ralik was tied to providing power to the chamber, so he couldn't leave. He was glad to see that all the quarians did indeed decide to come into the room.

"We need to figure out what to do about Kevin," Ralik said, opening the floor for discussion.

"Pop the chamber. Let him rot," was Riik's immediate response.

"Stow it, Votis. _Now_," Siri snapped.

"He's with Cerberus, captain. He's not here to save us like we thought," Riik argued.

"We don't know that for certain," Tosh added.

"He put his life on the line for us. Why do that if he wasn't intending on saving our hides?" Tyr asked.

"Look, I don't like the idea of him being with Cerberus any more than you guys," Ralik stated. "The fact of the matter is, he's going to die if we don't help him. At the very least, he could decide not to jump on the Cerberus bandwagon."

"We could consider it as us repaying our debt for him saving us," Arla said. "We'd be even."

"If we must," Riik hesitantly. "I still don't like it. Their ship is on its way here, now. If Kevin wants to make it out alive, he's going to have to choose a side. Who wants to bet it's going to be theirs?"

"I said stow it, Votis," the captain said after some consideration. "Team, ideas?"

"Where is his hardsuit?" Tosh asked.

"It doesn't matter," Ralik pointed out. "Unless any of you have seen his breather helmet, his hardsuit won't mean anything."

"Is there anything we can use as a replacement helmet?" Tyr asked.

"We have replacement suit parts in the cargo bay, but there's no way I can make that compatible with his hardsuit," Tosh replied.

"Plus we'd be wasting valuable suit parts on a human that doesn't need an environmental suit," Kar added.

"He needs _something_, Welkas," Bela said, smacking Kar's chest.

There was a moment of quiet as they all attempted to come up with an idea to save this human's life, whether they wanted to or not. Suddenly, Tosh piped in.

"I have an idea, but some of you might not like it,"

Ralik looked up to Tosh. "Doesn't matter who likes it or not. What's your plan?"

"Ralik, do you know human anatomy at all?" Tosh asked.

"I do, but not enough to consider surgical procedures."

"That's fine," Tosh replied with a nod. "We're not aiming for surgery. I just need someone who knows what's what on a human body to help me."

"I can help you with that, yes. What do you need me to do?"

"For starters, go find Kevin's hardsuit and bring it here. I'll be right back."

"I can't," Ralik said, shaking his head. "I'm stuck providing power for the decontamination chamber. Since the ship's no longer doing that, I have to."

Tosh placed a three-fingered hand over the chin of his helmet. "Well, you can't stay that way. I need you for the procedure. Captain?"

Siri nodded, understanding the request. "Garloh, you'll have to take over for Dolannus."

"Understood, ma'am," Tyr replied and stepped forward without hesitation.

It took them a moment, but Ralik was able to get Tyr plugged in so that he was providing the small amount of power to the chamber rather than himself. As soon as he was sure that Tyr was set up properly, he swiftly made his way out of the room – but not before Tosh could. He rationalized that Kevin's hardsuit would most likely be in his quarters, so that's where he decided to look first. Luckily, that particular room wasn't far off.

He had to pry the doors open in a fashion similar to the way he saw Kevin open the med bay door earlier. When he got the door open, he was mildly dismayed to find another door at the end of the hall. After another strenuous effort, he finally gained access to the one room in the ship he had yet to visit. The master quarters. At first he was surprised at how open the room was, not to mention the three large viewports near the ceiling. After that, he found himself staring at the large amount of décor in the room as well. All the furnishings, the massive vid screen, the kingly bed. . . Kevin's been holding out on him! But he'd have to save conversation that for another time if he wanted to have the conversation at all.

At first glance, he didn't see the hardsuit anywhere. He subsequently noticed that there was a large closet on the far side of the room, and he headed straight for that. Upon opening it, he saw two hardsuits and no helmets. One was the suit that Kevin used, and that was all that mattered at the moment. He took the suit down from it's hanging spot and slung it over his shoulder. It wasn't so much that the hardsuit was really heavy, it was more that it was impossible to completely fold or compact it. With his objective in hand, or rather over his shoulder, he strode back to the med bay.

Upon arrival back in the med bay, he found that Tosh had already returned with something bulky in his hands and a box at his feet. He was arguing with a couple of the other quarians about something, though Ralik didn't care much for their stupid quarrels. He tended to block out anything they said that had any sort of less than pleasant tone. When he stepped up to Tosh, the argument fell away much to Ralik's relief.

"Set that on the bed over there," Tosh instructed. "We'll get to that in a minute. Captain, I'm going to need everyone except Garloh and Dolannus out of the room for the time being. We have a lot of work to do in a little time."

"You heard Rolush, team. Out. I'm sure there's something we can be doing about the ship elsewhere," Siri stated, shooing the other quarians out of the room.

Tosh let out a sigh of preparation and cracked his digits. "Alright. Let's get to work."


	15. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14**_

Kevin awoke to a pounding head and the sound of his own breathing. He didn't even bother to open his eyes yet, fearing any light he saw would make it worse. He was breathing heavily and the sound of his breaths seemed to be echoing off of something extremely close to his face. What just happened? It didn't take long for him to remember the chaotic events leading up to his blacking out. The Illusive Man. The Kellius shutting down. Fear of suffocation. Fear of the vacuum. Ralik's fist.

The others backing away.

What was the Illusive Man's goal? He claimed Kevin was a valuable product of many years of research, but he tried to kill him. That was far too counter-productive for someone like him. Not only that, but did he purposely set him up to be at odds with his friends and shipmate? Even more, it sounded like he knew a lot more about Kevin than he ever wanted anyone to know. The very idea that he had been watched since his school days – a story of fiction or not – was unnerving. Kevin's mind was now a mess of noise. He had to filter it out, regain control of his thoughts. He needed to focus on what was going on right now.

The problem was, a sore face and a headache was what was going on right now. Fortunately, Kevin was able to shift his mental focus from the pain to some straight up facts. If he was breathing, that meant that Ralik figured out a way to save Kevin from the vacuum. With that comforting thought in mind, Kevin was able to stabilize his heavy breathing. The more he calmed down, the quieter his breathing got until it was no longer audible.

He then started to focus on the rest of his body. He could feel all his extremities. They felt as though they had been shrink-wrapped individually. Whatever he was wearing now, it was tight. Not stopping any blood flow, but tight. His eyes and ears no longer hurt, so Ralik must have had something in mind rather quickly. He was certain his eardrums were going to blow out. He lifted his left arm and went to place his left hand on his face to massage the impact point where Ralik had hit him. He wasn't able to, however. He was wearing gloves, as felt by his hands, and he was stopped before reaching his face. He must have been put in his hardsuit. It felt weird, though. Maybe they just didn't slip it on right.

Kevin decided to risk more headache by slowly opening his eyes. The room was dim, though recognizable. He was laying on a bed in the med bay. The strange thing was, everything was an odd hue of blue. He knew for a fact that his breather helmet didn't do that. He brought his hands up to feel out the general shape of his helmet to see if he could find out just what he was wearing. In the process, however, he got a look at his hands and he sprang forward to sitting up upon the sight. He had three suit-covered fingers on each hand! _Three!_ The more he looked at his body, the more he came to realize that he wasn't in his hardsuit at all. Despite this, it was disturbingly familiar.

He was in a quarian environmental suit.

How? When? _Why?_ His breathing had become heavy and audible again. Was he dreaming? Was this what happened when you got knocked unconscious by an angry salarian? What was all this? He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to. But Kevin knew he wasn't an irrational man in his own mind. He'd get to the bottom of this. Again, he needed to calm his mind down. He needed to focus on the facts. The facts.

Kevin let loose a long, deep breath in order to help himself calm down and prevent any hasty and irrational actions. As he calmed down, he came to realize a few facts that rang as extremely important to him. One was that he did not actually have three fingers. His index and middle finger as well as his ring and pinkie fingers on each hand had been bundled together in the suit. He could tell this by barely wiggling them separately in the gloves. Secondly, he didn't have two-toed quarian feet. It seemed the quarian portion of the suit from the knee down had been replaced by the portion of his hardsuit. It wasn't very flush, but it was sealed and tight. It actually looked like he was wearing boots on top of the environmental suit, though it was impossible to tell if that was actually the case. Once again he was able to calm down enough to reduce the noisy breathing he made.

He still needed to know what was going on. Things were a mess, if he remembered correctly. He turned his body so that his legs dangled off of the medical bed he had previously been laying on. This was almost too much to take in. He wondered who he had to thank for saving him. Surely the quarians wouldn't allow Ralik to commandeer one of their enviro suits. Especially after what went down in the briefing room. Just as all these questions began to float about in his head, he saw Ralik step into the dim medical bay through a permanently open door. He seemed surprised to see that Kevin was already awake, but not enough to warrant any unusual behavior.

"Oh, you're up. Glad to see sleep is still your strong suit. Let me call Tosh up," Ralik said with a stark lack of emotion. He activated his omni-tool and pressed a few buttons before focusing on Kevin again.

"Ralik. Were you the one that saved me?" Kevin genuinely asked. He immediately noted that he now sounded like a quarian as well. His voice was just as modulated as theirs, though he lacked the distinct accent they generally had. Additionally, he noticed how little the sounds he heard were obstructed by whatever medium was used to transfer sound into the helmet. It was impressive.

"Initially, yes. I'll expect a thank you later. If you want details, speak with Tosh." Ralik took a moment to gesture towards Kevin's new look. "That. . . That is mostly his handiwork. Tyr'Garloh was involved as well."

"Why would they help me after what happened?" Kevin wondered aloud.

"Like I said, speak with Tosh'Rolush. If he's feeling generous, he may even grant you their perspectives."

Kevin could hear a coldness in Ralik's voice. "Ralik, you don't really believe that I work with Cerberus, do you?"

Ralik had no time to properly answer that, however. Not after he hesitated long enough for Tosh to show up in the room. The first thing that Tosh did upon entering was activate his all important omni-tool. He tapped on it a few times, held it out to scan Kevin, then began tapping it some more.

"Folner, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Tosh. I can hear you," was Kevin's bland reply.

"Good. Audio intake and projection systems are functioning," Tosh analyzed. "Strange to hear your voice modulated. I take it by the fact that you are not convulsing for air that you can breath?"

"Yes, I can breathe fine."

"Better than expected. It looks like the breather system was able to handle the changes after all. The vitals that I was able to calibrate correctly are showing up fine, too. It looks like you'll be alright, Folner."

"What happened while I was out?"

Tosh looked to Ralik, then back to Kevin. "Ralik was able to sustain you inside the decontamination chamber over there before anything ruptured from the vacuum. Initial thanks are to be sent in his direction. After that I was asked to find a way to keep you from perishing. The decontamination chamber would only sustain you so long. Despite objections, I decided that since your hardsuit was missing the crucial helmet, and that I could not get one of ours to seal properly on it, I would place you in one of our extra suits that we kept for spare parts."

"And my legs?"

"There was no way for me to adapt the original quarian anatomy of the suit to fit that part of your human anatomy, so I had to use the legs from your harduit as a replacement. Don't worry, we were able to seal it up properly after quite a bit of work. Considering our species' differences, I was surprised that the suit fit as well as it did. It seemed a bit snug, but I did not think you would be picky about that once you woke up alive. As for the hands. . . After seeing how time consuming and difficult it was to transfer the pieces of your hardsuit from the knee down, I decided that you would have to live with three sets of bundled fingers. A small price to pay, yes?"

"Yes, a very small price. I have a lot of thanking to do, it seems," Kevin admitted. "Is there anything else I should know about all this?"

"Plenty. I had to make a few extensive adjustments to the suit's systems. Most of it you wouldn't care to hear, but there's nothing you should be worried about. I had to disable a few things due to Ralik and I's uncertainty of how it would interact with your body. Things like neural stimulators and such. Minor systems. The suit will be able to absorb your bodily fluids, both the ones secreted through skin as well as the ones expelled elsewhere."

"What about how everything is blue? Is that normal?" Kevin wondered, trying not to sound picky.

"Ah, yes," Tosh said, something clicking in his head. "The helmet will scan your retinas to determine how light is being absorbed. Give it a moment, let me activate the process. Once it's done, the visor should automatically visually correct for the color of the material. 'Should' being the key word."

Tosh tapped on his omni-tool once again and then looked to Kevin. Kevin didn't notice anything happening, and looked around for any changes.

"Keep your eyes still," Tosh ordered. "It can't calibrate if you keep moving them around like that."

Kevin took the quarian's advice and just stared off into space. Gradually, the color of everything turned less blue and began to look more like what Kevin remembered it as.

"Done. This is typically a one time set process. You might have to calibrate it again if you decide to take the helmet off and leave it off for an extended period of time."

"I can take the helmet off?" Kevin asked, surprised that their suits even allowed for that.

"Yes. The front-top half, at least. As you can imagine, we don't do it much at all, but the process isn't convoluted. Taking the whole suit off is another matter entirely. That takes quite a bit of preparation. Before I forget, I was able to get your omni-tool to work properly through the suit. It has been updated with anything you might need to monitor your suit and access any suit functions."

Kevin nodded and then fell silent. If the quarians suspected him of being an agent of Cerberus, why would they go to such lengths to help him survive?

"Tosh, I have a question," Kevin mentioned, his serious and solemn tone making it clear that he wasn't going to ask about more suit functions.

"Go ahead," Tosh replied.

"Why are you helping me? Do you still trust me while the others don't?"

"You can't lose something you never had, Folner," Tosh state matter-of-factually. "I don't know how much the captain wants me to say. You should go and talk to everyone once you are feeling able. Aft the very least, you've made a fairly good impression on us over the past few days. They will be willing to talk."

"What about you specifically?" Kevin pressed.  
"I was asked to save you, not trust you. That is all I will say," Tosh said rather bluntly before turning to leave. He started towards the door and stopped just short of leaving the room. He turned his head to look in Kevin's general direction, but his body remained ready to leave.

"You have our internal comms now, Folner. Use it to call everyone to the briefing room when you've contemplated on what to say."

Once that was said, Tosh and Ralik left the room with purpose in their steps. Kevin figured that they had been doing things around the ship in order to bring it back to working order. He didn't know if they'd be successful or not, but pretty soon it wouldn't matter. The Cerberus pick-up team was going to show up soon whether or not he had the chance to talk to everyone. What was he going to tell them? 'I'm innocent'? How was he going to get to them through the emotional barriers that The Illusive Man so efficiently set up?

Kevin knew that if he couldn't win back the favor of the others by the time the Cerberus agents showed up, he'd be forced to pick a side rather than decide on one for himself. With the way things were right now, that side would almost inevitably be with Cerberus, since the quarians and Ralik would most likely attempt to take him out as soon as the agents showed up. As they should. It would prevent a lot of trouble if they planned on getting into a firefight. If Kevin somehow managed to avoid them and still didn't want to fall in line with Cerberus, he'd end up with two enemy teams on the same ship trying to hunt each other – as well as him – down.

Kevin imagined a chess board. Pieces were all over the place, but his current opponent, The Illusive Man, has just spoken the word 'check'. The man was obviously an ingenious social engineer. Kevin has seen where the check was coming from, but he needed a move that not only removed the immediate threat, but neutralized it so that it didn't come back to haunt him. That made him realize something. The Illusive Man was aware of the conversation before he made his interjection. He had to have some way to listen in on their conversation as they were making it. Listen in. . . Listening bugs?

Kevin was aware of the existence of listening bugs and their use in the galaxy, but he wasn't aware that the Kellius might have had some. How stupid he was, not even bothering to check. He should have felt the raised red flag when Tosh pointed out the black box sectors in the VI core. Even then it was probably too late. The Illusive Man probably got detailed data on everything that happened when the Kellius got back into FTL comm buoy range several hours ago. That meant he knew about the Melkanis relay and everything in between.

On top of that was the matter of the ship and its shut down state. He knew ships could be remotely locked down when in a docking bay, but to think that someone could wield such alarming power over a ship from anywhere was beyond disconcerting. The question was, how was he doing it? What connection point was there for him to just shut the ship down at will? He needed to find something internal to the ship that could have access to the entire ship and all its systems. And then it hit Kevin like a biotic slam.

Terra.

How devious. Something so beneficial to the ship that the crew would never notice any potential access points for hostile takeover. This had to have been part of Cerberus' design for the ship. Sure Terra was beneficial. It performed anything it had the power to at request, and helped pilot the ship and maintain systems. At the same time, however, it was that very control over the ship's systems that brought them down to a completely crippled state. That was going to be his eventual second objective. First he had to deafen The Illusive Man's ears, then he'd have to find a way to stop his influence over the Kellius' marionette. Terra had her uses, but he needed to make sure she could no longer be remotely controlled.

Suddenly, Kevin had an idea of how he was going to talk to the quarians. They were a foreign people to him, but he knew a lot more about them than he let on. They were a practical people. Kevin had to bring himself to them as someone who treated their current predicament like malfunctioning tech. Fix the problems right away to stop them from causing more. Salvage the situation when others would give up on it. Use other parts to make it better than it was before it went to crap. He could do this.

Kevin stood up off of the bed. The whole suit felt undeniably uncomfortable. He liked his hardsuit tight, but loose enough to move. He felt constricted. Stiff. It didn't help that his peripheral vision on both sides was cut down far more than he was comfortable with. There was plenty of visible space through the visor, but he was used to the sight through his hardsuit. It cut peripheral vision on the top and bottom while keeping a wider veiw. This quarian helmet had more overall visibility, but his precious peripheral side vision was cut short. He'd probably get used to it after a while as he always did when he got a new helmet, but right now it was only stacking on the other issues he had with the suit.

As he started to head for the door in the med bay, he noticed that the suit was actually rather flexible. He paused and did a few simple maneuvers such as jumping jacks, slashes with an imaginary knife and using the closest cabinet as cover from an imaginary enemy. Soon he began to see that though the suit was uncomfortably tight, it was far more tolerable when he knew he could move easier in it than he could in his hardsuit. As true as that was, Kevin couldn't help but notice how vulnerable the fresh environmental suit happened to be. This quarian suit was bland and exposed. There were mount points for armor and a slot for a shield module, but there were no ablative plates or sections and the shield module slot was empty. It was simply a plain, but functional, environmental suit.

Kevin shook his head and stepped outside the med bay. He activated his omni-tool and went to use it, but something was different. The interface layout had changed. Some of his usual buttons had shifted slightly, while others were in a jarringly different location. At least his omni-tool wasn't coming up in quarian. As he pressed on the appropriate buttons to navigate to the suit's internal comm system, he was quickly discovering the disadvantage of going from a five fingered physiology to a three fingered one. A disadvantage that the quarians, who grew up this way, didn't share. Quite often he'd move one of his fingers to press a button only to find that the other finger it was bundled with in the suit provided ample opposite directional pressure to keep the single 'main' finger from moving and pressing the button. This was going to take some getting used to as well.

Kevin pushed through all these hardships. They seemed ridiculous and menial compared to the task at hand. He got his comms working and he sent a broadcast to the others in the ship.

"This is Folner. I need to talk with everyone in the briefing room as soon as possible."

He stopped broadcasting right away, but there were no responses at all. Kevin sighed and decided to take up a seat along the edge of the table facing away from the automatic doors. Much to his surprise, the sound of the automatic doors opening sounded pretty soon. He turned around to see all the quarians and Ralik standing on the far side of the room between the doors, impatiently waiting for Kevin to make his excuse.

"Look, I know you guys didn't trust me and now you have even less of a reason to. Unfortunately, The Illusive Man isn't going to give us any time to figure it out on our own. Cerberus is coming, and they want the ship back and us dead."

"Correction," Arla spoke up. "They want _us_ dead. They seem awfully content with you hanging around."

"I know what they said," Kevin snapped, irritated with Arla's interruption. "The thing is, I don't want to join them, and I want to keep my ship. Basically what I'm saying is, I need your help."

Some of them tilted their heads, but they said nothing until Ralik stepped forward.

"Help with what?"

"The Illusive Man has control of the ship and is keeping tabs on us, but we have an advantage. We have direct access to all the components he needs for this to continue to work and he does not. Not until his lackeys show up."

"What do you propose?" Siri asked.

"We need to locate and destroy his listening bugs," Kevin continued, walking back and forth on the opposite side of the table as he explained. "Once that's done, we need to find the source of his control over the ship and stop it there. After that, the ship is ours once again. I can't do this by myself, though. I don't have the ability or expertise to handle this as one person."

In the silence that followed, the quarians alternately exchanged looks as if wordlessly contemplating Kevin's proposal. Riik pointed something else out.

"You want _us_ to help _you_ reclaim _your_ ship?"

"I want you to help me help you get back to your Migrant Fleet," Kevin quickly countered. "I've come this far in helping you, I'm not going to be stopped this short by some blue-eyed rich man in a chair. He almost killed me. Though I'll likely never get the chance, I'd like to return the favor."

The quarians all exchanged looks once again. Siri nodded to her team and she turned to Kevin.

"We've been trying to find a solution for a couple hours, with little success. Where do you propose we start?"

Kevin smiled, though it was likely that none of them saw it due to his new helmet. "The VI core. Tosh is somewhat familiar with it, so he could help me figure out how to isolate the listening bugs. Ralik I'm going to need your data mining skills in a bit, so you come too."

Everyone nodded and headed out towards the VI core. As they approached the room, Kevin noticed that the door had already been pried open. They must have already been snooping about the VI core to try and solve some of the issues. He didn't blame them. Once they all crowded inside, Tosh set to work right away. The glow from his omni-tool illuminated the immediate area and he started to try and access the VI systems.

"Give it another minute," Tosh stated. "There are new firewalls that weren't there before. I've been running algorithms to try and bypass them since I finished with Kevin's suit. It's nearly done."

Tosh continued to watch his omni-tool like a hawk, never once taking eyes off of it. He really wanted in on that system. Thankfully, the wait was short. Tosh soon began tapping on his omni-tool furiously. Kevin had never seen a quarian's fingers move so fast. Moments later, four haptic screens popped up from his omni-tool arrayed horizontally and displayed huge amounts of information. It seemed Tosh was an expert at multitasking, as each screen displayed something different and he was working on each intermittently.

"I've started my black box cracking program," Tosh announced. "That will take a few minutes. In the meantime, I'm going to try and isolate the listening bugs within the system. If they are feeding information to Cerberus, they have to at some point pass the data through here in order to pack it up for FTL comm protocols."

"Ralik, can you help him search? The sooner we get rid of these, the better," Kevin asked.

Without replying, Ralik also activated his omni-tool and started tapping. After a few impatient minutes of two omni-tools doing immense amounts of work, Ralik nodded his head.

"I've got something. Tosh, I'm sending you a set of parameters. See if you can isolate hardware profiles under those. According to the manifest, there should be just over twenty."

Tosh nodded and focused on a particular screen for a moment. "Twenty-two, actually."

"Where do we find them?" Siri asked her subordinate.

"Standby," Tosh replied. After a minute or so, he shook his head. "I can't find anything that gives physical locations for the installed hardware. No power routing, no in depth schematics, nothing. We're going to have to find them manually. Best I can do from here is monitor the feeds."

"I have a plan," Tyr said, stepping up to the plate.

"Go ahead, Garloh," the captain said.

"We'll have to perform a deck by deck sweep. If Rolush and Dolannus give us all the hardware profiles, we can manually search the ship ourselves."

"That'll take forever," Welkas added.

"I'm not finished," Tyr calmly said. "Rolush monitors the feeds from here. We will all have our own word to repeat throughout the ship. Rolush will let us know when a particular person is getting close to the location of a bug so we can search more closely."

"That could work," Tosh agreed. He and Ralik sent the profiles from their omni-tools to be downloaded by the others.

"Agreed," Siri said with a nod. "Alright team, move out to the bridge. We'll start there. Folner, what do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going with you folks. You can keep a close eye on me that way. Besides. I couldn't let you guys have _all_ the fun."

The captain stood still for a moment, staring at Kevin. After a brief silence between them, Siri flicked her hood-covered head in the direction of the door. "Alright. Move out, then."

"Yes ma'am," Kevin said, almost excited.

They headed towards the bridge, but didn't all go in. The bridge was too small to fit them all. Instead, half stood in the bridge and the other half lined the neck of the ship.

"We're in position, Tosh," Siri called out over the comms.

_"Monitoring feeds now. Ready whenever you are, captain,"_ Tosh replied.

"My word will be 'captain'," Siri stated. "Let's keep our words simple and vocally diverse."

"Yes ma'am," everyone but Ralik replied.

Each person chose a simple, single word to repeat throughout the ship. Ralik's was 'Tarsil'. Bela's was 'BOOM!'. Tyr's was 'headshot'. Riik's was 'flotilla'. Arla's was originally 'stupid humans', but revised it to 'sniper' after a glare from her captain. Kar's was, unsurprisingly, 'pilot'. Kevin chose the word 'knife'. Not to take a shot at Arla, but rather because there was nothing he could trust more than his blade. She gave him a glare nonetheless, probably thinking it a reply to her 'stupid humans' choice. Once all that was decided, they began their sweep. They hadn't even hardly begun when Tosh radioed in.

_"I'm getting two strong and two weak feeds from where you all are. It seems 'headshot' and 'captain' are the strongest on the strong feeds while 'pilot' and 'knife' are strongest on the weak feeds."_

Siri and Tyr were both the furthest into the bridge while Kevin and Kar were halfway down the neck of the ship on the other end of the crowd.

"Tyr and I will search the bridge," the captain announced. "I want the rest of you searching the briefing room."

"Yes ma'am!" everyone acknowledged.

Over the next few minutes, this type of process repeated several times. The bridge was rather small, so Tyr and Siri were able to quickly find the two bugs in the bridge and physically disabled them by overloading the circuits within. Finding the two within the much larger and more open briefing room wasn't as simple a task. Eventually Tosh would radio in that a certain word was coming in stronger than the others, and half the team would divert to that person's side of the room and blanket the bugs with noise. Once a word rose above the noise after that, they were able to get close enough to begin scanning with omni-tools. The bugs didn't last long at that point. Soon the feeds for both the bridge and the briefing room were dead.

After how chaotic it was with everyone shouting their words endlessly, Tosh suggested that they split up and each search separate rooms. Riik and Tyr didn't like that idea, but the captain agreed with Tosh. Getting the bugs out as soon as possible was the current priority. Tosh made it clear to them that they should continue to shout their words, even between rooms. The hallways were probably bugged as well.

"Hey Folner," Bela called out.

"Yes?"

"Race you. The person to get the most disabled bugs wins."

"You're on."

Kevin was looking for any opportunity he could to lessen hostilities. A friendly challenge such as this was good to go along with. He and Bela both raced out the automatic doors while everyone else followed. Their haste wasn't in a race, but rather the need to get things done.

After they split up, their method of searching for the bugs changed slightly. Instead of following whoever was closest, Tosh used a 'hot and cold' system to pinpoint the bugs in each room. This seemed to work much better than the previous method, as each bug took roughly half the time to find compared to before. When all was said and done, there were two in the bridge, two in the briefing room, two in the first deck hallway, one in the mess hall, one in the med bay, one in the entertainment room, one in the short closed off hallway to the master quarters, two in the master quarters, two in the deck two hallway, one in each observation lounge, one in the crew quarters, one in the VI core room, two in engineering, and two in the cargo bay. The whole process took about an hour.

_"That's it. All of the feeds are dead,"_ Tosh confirmed.

_"Good work, team. Report in back at the VI core room,"_ Siri ordered.

Within the minute, everyone had reassembled back into the VI core room where Tosh was still feverishly slaving away on his omni-tool. Amidst the reentry, Kevin heard Bela calling him out again.

"Folner! How many?"

"I got three. You?"

"Hah! Four! Looks like I win," Bela bragged.

"What do you win?" Kevin asked curiously.

Bela's ego moment fell away quickly into thought. "I'm. . . Not sure. I'll figure that out later."

Kevin couldn't help but crack a smile at her silliness despite the dire situation surrounding them. Once he was able to focus on the issues at hand again, he stepped up next to Tosh.

"Any luck with those black boxes, Tosh?" Kevin asked.

"Yes and no. I've unlocked them and found our shut down problem, but I can't seem to isolate where the order to the VI came from. It seems to be coming from an undisclosed data port. If I can't stop this at the source, we'll just keep having to deal with this over and over."

Kevin simply tapped on Tosh's shoulder. When the quarian tech expert finally looked up from his screens, Kevin pointed to the TERA hardware against the wall with one of his big three fingers.

"Of course!" Tosh exclaimed. "How did I not see it before? The port was undisclosed because the TERA uses application masks to interact with the VI without causing conflictions in the kernel, and-"

"Rolush!" The captain yelled, cutting Tosh short of his in depth analysis. "Can you stop it from there?"

Kevin responded before Tosh could say anything. "There's a manual release to the connection to between the TERA and the VI. Let me trigger it."

"No, wait," Tosh unexpectedly interrupted. "I've been into the TERA before. The system is complex, but the code is easy to understand. I can fix this without crippling the ship."

Kevin looked to Siri for her ultimate decision. Siri nodded her head to Tosh and Kevin ceased his attempts to disconnect the TERA hardware from the VI core.

"I just need to backload a registry flag through the VI into the TERA. . ." Tosh was once again hard at work on his omni-tool screens.

"Aha. Done. All we need to do now is reboot both systems and we should be home free," Tosh stated. "The registry entry I loaded into the TERA's programming should be recognized by the system and will force it to ignore all commands external to the ship."

"Good work, Rolush," Siri said with another nod to Tosh.

"Thank you, captain," Tosh replied as he simultaneously began entering the reboot commands for both systems.

The lights all around the VI core and the life support system all faded to dark and the screens and lights on the TERA and the VI blinked off. Not more than a few seconds later, the screens popped back on and the lights around the room returned to their dim state. The life support system hummed loudly as it worked hard to restore the atmosphere throughout the ship to its proper setting.

"It looks like we're back in business," Ralik declared.

"Let's get back to the bridge," Kevin said. "We'll probably have to reenter the coordinates for the Migrant Fleet. If we hurry, we can get out of here before those Cerberus goons show up."

"Agreed," Siri said. "Everyone back to the briefing room. We're getting out of this mess."

"With all due respect ma'am, I think I'll stay here," Tosh objected. "I've already started work on reverse engineering these black box systems. I think we'll need a viable counter-system in case something like this happens again."

Siri nodded to Tosh on her way out of the room.

Back up in the bridge, Siri, Kevin and Ralik were bringing the systems back up to speed. Like Siri mentioned before everything went down, they were still a ways from the Dholen relay. About an hour, in fact. They reentered their destination and the mass effect drive core started up once more. Satisfied that the ship was once again back under their control, Kevin had the Kellius fire up the thrusters and finish their trip back to the Dholen relay. Meanwhile, they all walked back into the briefing room to further discuss what was to be done.

"I've decided against sending a message to the Migrant Fleet," the captain stated. "I don't want to risk giving away our position after we just back on our way. The Neema will have to deal with us as we arrive."

The quarians all nodded in silent agreement.

"As I ordered before, I want everyone to remain here for the time being. Let's just get home."

"Yes ma'am," the quarians acknowledged.

The next fourty-five minutes of travel through the Dholen system were quiet and uneventful. Conversations were minimal and anything said was done so in whispers. Bela was getting impatient and began slowly pacing around the circular briefing table. It was almost as if they expected that The Illusive Man's form was going to appear over the the holographic projector again. Kevin was sure that wasn't going to happen, though. The Illusive Man likely knew that he had lost control of the ship, and he probably wouldn't bother contacting them unless he had an edge.

Fifteen minutes from the relay, Ralik had taken the pilot's seat and was preparing himself to bring the ship within the appropriate approach vector to use the relay. Just as he was doing that, something was blinking on one of the terminals. He looked over and jumped from the seat when he read what he saw. He ran down the neck of the ship and stood in the doorway between the two rooms. He took his helmet off now that the atmosphere was stable and everyone looked up at him.

"Kevin, we have a problem!" Ralik blurted out with urgency.

"Not again. What's wrong now?" Kevin replied, only slightly picking up on the urgency that crossed Ralik's features.

"Sensors just picked up an approaching frigate. I recognize the profile from an STG mission. It's a Cerberus hunter-seeker!"

"Hunter-seeker?" Kevin asked. "I've never heard of that before."

"Rarely used. Rarely seen. As far as the STG knows, the hunter-seeker frigates are normally used for defensive strategies and lone ship strike ops. Fast, and heavily armed. Kevin, we _don't have the gear_ to win a fight with a hunter-seeker!"

"And with the Kellius no longer under their control. . ." Tyr started.

"They're going to destroy it before it gets away again," Riik finished.

Everyone in the briefing room looked at one another. They needed to come up with something, fast. If they went to FTL, they'd miss the relay. All the hunter-seeker had to do was hang around the relay and they'd be sure to find the Kellius. They couldn't just slip by, they'd have to disable the Cerberus vessel. And from the look on Ralik's face, that wasn't likely to happen. Kevin got up from the seat he was in and ran for the bridge. They needed some fancy maneuvering.

Kevin sat down in the pilot's seat and took the controls. The Cerberus ship was nearly on them, coming from directly ahead of them. His first priority was to get out of the way of their mass accelerator cannon, but there was a rare opportunity. He brought up the kinetic barriers and lined up a shot with their cannon. It was the only weapon they had, and this was likely the only chance he'd have to use it. A firing solution was established and he slammed on the firing button. The burst of a released projectile the size of a golf ball shot out in front of them and headed straight for the closing enemy frigate. The hit on them was near instantaneous, but unfortunately, the hunter-seeker was unaffected. The ship's powerful kinetic barriers deflected the shot away from the ship, and before Kevin knew it, their ship was rocked in a similar fashion. Several terminals were beeping warnings about the sudden massive decrease to kinetic barrier integrity. They were just hit as well, and the shields would not stop another hit.

Kevin employed some basic evasive maneuvers, but doing so on a frigate felt slow and cumbersome. Additionally, the fact that he was running on only six fingers when he was used to ten made it even more difficult. In the end, the only thing he barely dodged was a second mass accelerator shot.

"Kar'Welkas, get up here now!" Kevin shouted back.

"Yes! What is it that you need?" Kar replied.

Kevin sat up from the chair and pointed for Kar to take the helm. "I need a pilot who can perform _real_ evasive maneuvers. Take the helm and get us out of here if you can!"

Kar looked back towards his captain, but didn't hesitate to take the seat. Kevin was right. They'd need his skills right about now. He cracked his knuckles and started punching in all sorts of commands on the helmsman's terminal. Suddenly the Kellius was moving more like a frigate should, and less like a frigate trying to be a fighter class. Welkas dodged another mass accelerator shot with ease, and it was the last one that the enemy ship could fire before they were too close for firing solutions.

Kar's maneuvering was smooth and unpredictable, but that would only go so far. Once the enemy ship closed in enough, the Kellius was soon getting mercilessly pounded by a powerful GARDIAN laser grid – an offensive and defensive means that the Kellius lacked entirely. Because the lasers had no mass, they weren't being stopped by the Kellius' remaining kinetic barriers. They now relied on a limited amount of ablative armor in the hull, and Kevin wasn't sure just how much of that they had. Each time they were nailed with another hit, the ship rocked violently as the ablative armor they had absorbed and dispelled as much of the damage as possible.

"We're screwed if we keep this up," Kevin said with a shake of his head.

"We need ideas!" Siri called out. "If we don't find a way to stop these attacks, we're not even going to reach that relay!"

"Captain, I have an idea," Tyr said.

"I've been liking your ideas lately, Garloh. What do you have for us?"

"Their main objective was to bring the ship in, right? If we keep fighting, they won't get that opportunity. Rolush!" Tyr called over the comms. The conversation was temporarily delayed as the ship shook from another GARDIAN assault.

_"Tosh here. What's going on out there?"_

"Cerberus found us. I know you were reverse engineering that ship control software. I need you to fake a system failure, right now."

_"I've only just compiled an alpha version, but I should be able to do that through the TERA. Give me a minute." _Again the ship jolted, causing everyone to lose their footing.

"We don't have a minute, Rolush!" Siri pointed out.

_"Acknowledged. Standby."_

Suddenly, the ship started to fall into the same powered down state that it was in not more than two hours ago. Thursters went out, the drive went offline, the lights dimmed to the point hardly emitting any light at all and the consoles that Kar was mashing on disappeared. The ship was still slowing down, so Kevin figured that Tosh had understood what Tyr was going for when he made the request. He was making it easier for Cerberus to board.

_"Let's make the scene a little more engrossing, yes?"_ Tosh said.

The dim lights in the ship began to flicker wildly, as if the ship had taken some serious damage. Haptic adaptive interfaces flickered on and off randomly as well. To top it off, the air began to fog up, as though the life support systems were malfunctioning. The ploy seemed to work, as the Cerberus vessel was no longer raining laser-based death upon them.

"Very nice atmospheric change, Rolush," Kevin admitted.

"Captain, we're going to have to pull of that counter-pirate plan you came up with a few months ago," Tyr mentioned.

"I figured that was what you were going for, Garloh. It's our best chance," Siri said.

"Counter-Pirate plan?" Kevin asked.

"The idea was born from the need to deal with boarding pirates," Bela informed. "It might work here as well."

Siri elaborated. "We fake a catastrophic system failure on our ship. When the pirates go to board, we ambush them and backfill into their own ship. We take their gear and detonate a bomb inside their vessel if it's something we can't bring back to the flotilla."

"That's a great plan and all, but if these are Cerberus agents, I highly doubt they will be as easily fooled or as averagely equipped as pirates," Kevin pointed out.

"I agree," Tyr said. "We'll need to mix things up a little. A straight forward firefight will not be in our best interest."

"If someone were to lure the majority of their forces into the engineering room, I could take care of the ambush part," Kevin suggested.

"No way. That's like signing our death warrant," Riik argued. "You link up with them and come at us while we're unsuspecting."

"Haven't I already told you guys that I'm not interested in joining Cerberus? You need to trust me, at least with this. I take out as many as I can out in engineering while you guys cut off escape and backfill into their frigate."

"This doesn't sound like the best idea to me," Arla mentioned.

"I can at least show how the skills of a contract killer can at times be beneficial," Kevin stated, directed at Arla.

"Let him do it," Siri ordered.

Everyone paused and looked at the captain. After a moment of silence, they agreed.

"Yes ma'am."

"I don't trust you, Kevin, but I trust my captain's judgment. If you even try to betray us, I'll make you regret it," Arla threatened.

"Just watch me work, Tavval. You might learn something."

Arla gave a familiar short and angsty sigh at his remark, but argued it no further for her captain's sake.

"Ralik, you are the only recognizable figure on this ship," Tyr said. "I hate to say this, but you will have to be our bait to lure the operatives down to engineering. It may not be your thing, but at least try to act scared."

Ralik sighed. "If I must. You know, Kevin, this is twice now I've been stuck picking up your slack."

"Shut it, Ralik, and start practicing your 'I just pissed my pants' face," Kevin snapped.

_"Captain, I hope you have a plan. They are preparing to board,"_ Tosh announced.

"Tosh, we're going with a modified Counter-Pirate plan," the captain said. "It's very likely that they will be technologically superior, so I'm going to need you to start working on their firewalls and communications the minute they board. Once we cut them off, try and stop them from leaving. Maybe make use of that alpha software you just concocted."

_"Understood captain. Radio silence?"_

"Yes. They might monitor once they get aboard. Hear that everyone? Radio silence. Alright, get to your positions. It's about to get heavy in here."

Everyone nodded and quickly separated. Kevin made a sprint for the master quarters. His knife was in there, and he was going to need it. He wrapped a belt around his waist for the sole purpose of giving the knife sheath something to attach to. Without a minute to lose, he made a break for the engineering room where he'd wait for the Cerberus operatives. The room was extremely foggy, but not so much that he couldn't see once his eyes adjusted to the dark. There he sat and waited. Time to play the assassin once more.


	16. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15**_

"Everyone suit up," Staff Lieutenant Thomas 'Top' Corteau ordered his men. "It looks like we brought down a number of systems, including their comms. Expect that the life support is down as well. Be sure to prep your magne-boots. We're no longer detecting a mass effect distortion field, so gravity will likely be absent."

The Lieutenant was the commanding officer on this mission in absence of his normal superiors. He was not the captain of the Accretion – the hunter-seeker ship that had just disabled the Kellius – but he was left in charge when the captain and the commander left for a different mission at The Illusive Man's request.

He was a well toned man of as much African-American descent as the generalized modern gene pool would allow. He, like many other Cerberus operatives, started out in the Alliance many years ago and dropped out to join the human-centric group. He wasn't a very tolerant man, and aliens was one of the many things he didn't tolerate. Cerberus worked to secure human dominance in the galaxy, and that lined up with his galactic wishes. He was an accomplished soldier and showed promise as a leader. Cerberus recruited him because of this. They needed soldiers, and leaders to give those soldier direction.

Today was a special day. The Accretion had been picked out from the few hunter-seeker ships in Cerberus' arsenal to perform a single ship strike and retrieve operation. This mission, unlike most others, was generated and sent to the Accretion by one of The Illusive Man's personal assistants. That was as good as getting orders directly from the big boss himself in Thomas' eyes, and he was not about to disappoint.

The mission was labeled as 'simple, but imperative'. He was to take the Accretion out to the Dholen system in the Far Rim, search a few grids for a disabled human frigate, board with a team, eliminate a few hostiles and have that team bring the ship back to a Cerberus facility that would be outlined to him once the frigate was under control. The hostiles were listed as seven quarian marines, a human and a salarian. He wasn't worried about it at all. He'd never met a quarian, marine or not, that he couldn't deal with on his own. As the mission progressed, he received updates that the ship was no longer disabled and that the Dholen mass relay was its destination. The mission parameters changed, as well – it was no longer a simple pick up. If he couldn't reign the ship in, he was ordered to destroy it outright to prevent it from falling into 'malcontented hands'. Bringing it in was still a top priority, but it was no longer the only option. He made the executive decision to wait at the relay, assault the frigate when it came within a viable sensor range and determine whether or not he had to destroy it there. After finding out that they had disabled their prey, it was time to board.

Thomas was now just beginning to debrief his men about the situation. They were on a need to know basis, and now they needed to know. He had seven soldiers – five men and two women – under his command, not including the various vital crew members of the Accretion. There were ten crew members that were staying behind on this mission since they weren't outfitted for a hostile situation at this time. They were also the failsafe. If something went horribly wrong during a boarding mission, he would radio back to the crew of the Accretion and get them to dislodge and fire upon the now disabled ship.

"What are the mission details, Top?" Corporal Rogers, or 'Ice', asked the Lieutenant.

"I was getting to that, Ice," Thomas replied. "Mission reports state some nine hostiles or so aboard that ship. All we know is that there are at least seven quarians, all of them calling themselves 'marines'." His men laughed. "There's also a human and a salarian. Our orders are to shoot on sight, except in the case of the human. Bring him to me if you find him. They probably know by now that we intend to board, so expect an ambush. Second Lieutenant Hughes will be in command of the Accretion in my absence, and will be our primary contact back to the ship. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir!" was the resounding response.

"Once we get inside and confirm that our exit is secure, we will break into two groups. Needle, Pressure and Wraith are with me, and we'll move directly to the lower decks and search up from there. Ice, you will lead Tungsten, Light and Trigger. You will remain to keep the exit secure until we've confirmed that we've searched the lowest deck. Make a sweep of the top deck and then return to keeping the exit secure. Understood, corporal?"

"Sir yes sir," Ice replied.

"Keep in constant radio contact over secure channel gamma. If the situation takes a bad turn, notify the rest and pull out. I'd rather lose the ship we're supposed to pick up than lose the team."

There was a slight jolt that caused the ship to shutter. Following that, a female voice came over the room's sound emitters.

"We've attached and are ready to board, sir. Waiting on your go to open the airlock."

Thomas put on his breather helmet and his team did the same. He pulled a Rosenkov assault rifle from its clipped position on his back and it expanded from its collapsed form in his hands. Again, his team did likewise with various Rosenkov weapons and they gathered around the boarding airlock. This airlock was different from a normal one. It was on the tail end of the opposite side of the ship from the normal one and contained tools to force open a victim ship's outer doors and airlock.

"Open the airlock, we're going in."

There was a short but loud hiss and the door out of the small prep room opened up to a short hallway that connected their ship with the door of the ship they had to take. Using the tools in the hallway that extended from the Accretion, Thomas and his team overrode the electronic commands that normally kept the outer door shut unless it docked. The door slid upward and the team gained entrance to the decontamination portion of the airlock. Lights were out and they quickly noticed that the d-con process did not begin. Without a moment of unprofessional hesitation, they started working on getting the main airlock door to the ship open.

This door could not be simply pulled open by hand. Since there seemed to be no power to the door, it had to be forced open by a powerful prying device that resided in the hallway. It took only a few minutes to get the door to suddenly separate, and the team was already in cover on either side as they expected to be shot at as they came through the door. Strangely, no fire came. Instead, a thin, but heavy wall of fog rolled down into the airlock.

With a few wordless hand gestures, Thomas ordered a few of them to enter all at once and cover the two main directions in the hallway. Again seeing that the area was clear, the rest of the team filed inside and occupied the dark briefing room. Lights were flickering all over the place, haptic screens were on the fritz and the place was filled with malfunctioning life support air. Tungsten, one of the two females on the squad, moved into the bridge and attempted to access some of the terminals.

"Nothing. Terminals are all down. Looks like we did a bit more damage to the ship than we thought."

Ice laughed. "The Illusive Man's gonna be pissed."

"Our mission was to bring it it, not make it pretty," Thomas said.

"Room is secure, Top," Ice reported. "Arti-grav is completely down, as you expected."

"Noted. According to the layout we received, there should be a stairwell right outside these doors that go to the second and third deck. My team, let's move out. Straight to third deck. Let's clear these roaches out from the bottom up."

"Yes sir!"

While Ice's team bunkered down, Thomas ad his crew activated the flashlights on their guns and moved out into the hallway with caution. He expected to find shots coming from behind every door, and that showed in his use of walls and cover on either side of said doors. The visual noise from the flickering of the ship's lights and the flashlight beams in the eerie fog made concentrating on finding quarian or salarian figures difficult, so extra caution was taken. Once down on the cargo deck, they fanned out to sweep the entire area. As they searched, Thomas could hear crew comments over his comms.

"Look at all this crap. These guys are loaded enough to make a minor deep-space trip," Needle, the second female soldier, commented.

"Lots of human-based materials," Wraith analyzed. "Looks like these crates came from the Citadel. What was going on here?"

"Not all of these crates are from the Citadel," Pressure, the deepest toned man on the squad said. "There's a lot of quarian writing on some of these. Guess they came packed to go too."

"Enough chatter," Thomas ordered. "Focus on the search. They could be waiting anywhere for us."

With that, the team was silenced. Soon after, a complete sweep of the cargo room had been completed, and there was naught a single other living being down there. They regrouped near the stairs and prepared to move up.

"Ice, the cargo deck sweep is complete. No signs of life. Go ahead and begin your rounds," Thomas directed.

_"Yes sir."_

"Let's move up. Needle, take point."

"Yes sir!"

Once on the second deck, the team slowly progressed down the hallway. They stopped to check the crew quarters as continued by prying the door open, but again, they were disappointed when there was nobody there to greet them.

"Okay, Needle, next room," Thomas said.

Needle nodded and cautiously started down the hall from the crew quarters. She was hesitant about continuing. Between the fog, the sporadic lights and the lack of crew, she began to wonder if something _else_ had happened to them. The tight hallway wasn't helping. Coupled with the other factors, it was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. She hated tight spaces with such low visibility. If there was any one thing that gave her goosebumps, it was this. Thomas picked up on her hesitation and pushed her along.

"Some time _today_, private."

"Sorry sir. It's just that this place is creeping me out a little, sir."

Thomas knew that Needle was one of the newest members of the squad, so he let it slide this time in the interest of completing the mission quickly. He'd have to deal with her inability once the mission was completed. He sighed and nudged Pressure.

"Pressure. Take point."

"Yes sir," he rumbled.

They didn't go far. They stopped at the VI core room and pried the door open to look for the usual hostiles. Again, the room was empty. On the figurative bright side, a new opportunity had presented itself.

"Wraith. Link in to the VI. Get the locations of any organics on board."

"Yes sir."

Wraith was the tech in their immediate squad. He activated his omni-tool and started working to access the VI. After about a minute of work, he deactivated his omni-tool and shook his head.

"No go, sir. I can't get into the VI at all. It seems to be running loopback connections on all ports. I can't even get a reboot command in. I could issue a hard reboot, but it will take several minutes to come back online."

Thomas cursed his luck. "This mission just keeps going downhill. Let's move out. We'll continue our-"

He was interrupted by the sudden gasp from Needle.

"Lieutenant!" she shouted. "I just saw a salarian in the hallway! He looked in here, saw us, freaked out and ran left!"

"Wraith, pursuit! We'll watch your back here in the hallway."

"Yes sir!" Wraith acknowledged before breaking off in a full sprint. He must have caught a glimpse of the salarian going down the stairs since he reported his new direction.

"He's heading into the cargo bay. On his six."

The rest of the team remained in the hallway to watch both directions for additional activity. After a few slightly tense and silent moments, they spotted Wraith coming up the stairs to regroup.

"Got away through a door in the back of the cargo bay I didn't even see before. Probably busted the panel, too. I couldn't hack it open. Bet they're barricading themselves in there."

"Wait, the door had power?" Thomas asked curiously.

Wraith merely shrugged. "According to the layout, the only place he could have gone was into the engineering room's lower deck."

"We'll head there," Thomas ordered. "Stay tight and keep an eye out for incoming fire. Ice, report."

_"Top deck is clear, Top. Tungsten's still trying to get some terminals to work. She's been able to self-power one of the system terminals near the airlock, but it's not connecting to the ship's internal network. I'll keep you updated. Also, I'd like to point out that for a ship that took enough hits to down systems, I'm not seeing much for damage."_

"Likewise," Thomas replied with suspicion. "Something's not right here, keep your guard up. We think we've found where they're holding out. We may need backup in a few moments if things get nasty."

_"Acknowledged."_

When the team reached the massive engineering room door, they all had to work together to pry it open. After that, there was a second layer that probably normally opened automatically that had to be pried as well. They only pulled it apart half-way so they could use part of the door for cover from the enemy fire they fully expected to encounter in the engineering room. Curiously, there was none. What they found was a room with no lights whatsoever, and a fog so thick it nearly rendered projected lights useless.

"Thermals, sir?" Pressure asked.

"Thermals will work for the human and salarian, but they won't see quarians due to their suits," Wraith informed.

"They have to be in here somewhere," Needle said, looking off towards the unpowered engineering elevator on their right.

"Why aren't they firing?" Pressure wondered aloud, hoping that one of those lying in wait somewhere would take a pot shot and expose their position.

"Squad, recon and force. We know at least one is in here. If found, don't wait for the others. Fire at will."

"Yes sir."

Thomas knew that the moment they were fired upon, the enemy would be exposed. He also knew their kinetic barriers could withstand several shots from the no doubt outdated weapons that the quarians had. As the others began to explore the pitch black engine room, Thomas moved off to the left to check out the elevator. Needle appeared to be looking downward over the edge to determine how far a jump it was and if her magne-boots would work from there. After determining that the elevator was offline, he heard Needle jump down to the lower deck. Just then, there was a sound that came from the direction of the drive core. All flashlight beams focused on the disabled core, and with all that illumination on a single spot, he noticed the white edge of the salarian's suit hiding behind a large piece of the eezo drive core. He was about to call out to the salarian when he noticed something.

There were only two other flashlight beams in the room other than his. Instantly he was distracted by the missing teammate and he went to investigate while the other two continued to focus on the salarian hiding in the drive core's works while trying to get a shot in. Thomas noticed that Needle's flashlight beam was the one missing, and he walked over to where she was investigating the edge of the upper floor. He looked down as she did and he saw a large number of small red beads floating away from under his position.

"Needle? Report in!"

As he leaned over more to get a better view, he saw what had happened to his subordinate. She was hanging upside down under the floor he was standing on, her magne-boots still holding her feet to the grated metal. She did not have her shotgun in her hands and red beads continued to generate from the small space between her chest armor and her breather helmet and slowly push away from the body. Bad, bad news.

Just as he realized what was going on, the room dimmed a little more. Another flashlight beam had disappeared.

"Pressure?" Wraith called out. Despite the situation, he continued to focus his beam on the only enemy they knew the location of. It clearly wasn't the salarian, but if he lost sight of him, he might make a move on them as well.

Thomas started looking around the room with his flashlight and activated his thermal vision to see who it was as he trekked by Wraith to get to Pressure's last known coordinates. To his dismay, the only thermal signatures in the room were his, Wraith's and a sliver of the salarian's hiding in the angle-mounted drive core. It must have been a quarian. But a quarian with a silenced weapon? Impossible. Mass effect based weapons were difficult enough as it was to suppress, such a modification would be prohibitively expensive for a vagrant alien. There was no way it was a quarian.

When Thomas found Pressure, he was greeted by a similar grim scene. The difference was that Pressure was lying face first against the rail that ran the edge of the upper floor. A bubble of red was growing along the corner of the rail and the floor as the red beads spewed forth from a thin hole bored into the forehead of Pressure's helmet. It then dawned on him. Whoever, _whatever _was attacking them, it wasn't using a gun. Even a silenced one did a different style of damage. This bore the evidence of a slash or stab with a sharp object. All their armor, all their kinetic shielding, all their rifle training did nothing to protect them from such sudden and precise melee attacks.

He turned around to give retreat orders to Wraith only to find his last remaining subordinate thrashing and convulsing wildly on the floor with his hands at his neck and more red dots and lines flying about the gravityless room. Thomas only momentarily spotted a dark figure shut off Wraith's assault rifle flashlight before it jumped off towards the ceiling, utilizing the lack of gravity as a mode of locomotion. Within seconds, Wraith's thrashing ceased and the room was silent again.

At least, it would be silent if Thomas didn't yell out, take aim and start firing in the general direction that the dark figure traveled in. His flashlight proved to be more of a drawback than a help as it obscured any distant views of the room and prevented visual tracking of the hunter. Thomas wasn't stupid, however. He knew how to track targets without line of sight, and he shot at the most logical land points that the figure might have used. Only a mere few seconds after he started shooting, Ice came in over the comms.

_"I hear gunfire. Are you mopping up down there?"_

"Ice, pull out. Pull out, _now_," Thomas replied with as much controlled urgency as he could communicate. "This isn't an ambush, it's an effing _hunt_. Needle, Pressure and Wraith are already KIA. Get back to the Accretion before something else happens. Radio them to fire on the ship once I'm clear."

_ "I- Yes sir,"_ Ice replied with genuine worry in his voice.

Thomas kept shooting in random spots, hoping to score a hit. Any hit. As he did, he backed out of the engineering room as quickly as he could, making certain that nothing got behind him on his way out. Soon enough, he was on his way back to the briefing room that he knew was secure, for the moment. Unfortunately, he was stopped in the middle of the still flickering and foggy hallway by the sight of at least three quarians taking aim on him from the stairs. One more appeared on each of his sides from the observation lounges, and he now had five guns targeting him, two of which were point blank. _There_ was the ambush he had been expecting earlier. If he had his squad, he might have been able to get out of this alive.

He didn't even have the chance to take aim with his gun. He heard a modulated voice from behind him say something he didn't quite hear. He had to see what so efficiently ghosted three of his soldiers, even if turning to look risked him getting shot point blank.

When he looked down the blinking hallway at the black space through the engineering door, he saw what looked like a quarian disfigured from the knees down barreling down at him via gravityless flight. He had enough time to shout "No! Wait!" before a sharp knife forced its way through the thin armor at his neck and tore deeply into his flesh. He could feel his blood seeping out into the environment, his heart now working against him as it pumped his very life into the air. He saw his own red beads scattering away from his neck before his eyes rolled back from the pain, and though he went to scream in agony, he couldn't. Any attempt to make vocal noise just resulted in hushed gurgles and air lost from his lungs that could not return. He slammed into the floor as his magne-boots acted as a pivot point for the velocity of the _thing_ that just flew into him. He gripped his neck in feeble attempts to stop the blood and the pain. His vision tunneled rapidly until he was eternally silenced under the gaze of several unsympathetic quarians.

Ice tried to radio back to the Accretion once more.

"Accretion, come in! This is Corporal Rogers! Accretion!"

"Forget it, Ice. Our comms are being jammed," Tungsten informed. "For all they know, we're still working the mission over here."

Light and Trigger both were watching the open doors at the back of the briefing room, using the big briefing table as cover. Tungsten and Ice were pacing back and forth in the neck of the ship, desperately trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. Things went from going smoothly, to suspicious, to bad in a heartbeat. The airlock doors had shut on their own, as well. All their prying tools were on the _other_ side of those doors.

Just then, they all heard their Lieutenant yell somewhere a deck down. It wasn't over the comms, it was an echo. After what the Lieutenant just told them over the comms, that quite simply made the hair on the back of all their necks stand on end.

"Top's still alive. We should try and provide backup," Ice suggested.

"You heard what Top said," Tungsten all too calmly explained. "They weren't ambushing our sweep team, they were hunting them. We didn't even hear any gunfire until after Pressure, Wraith and Needle were down. We're not dealing with quarian marines. Someone gave us bad intel." For all her calmness, Tungsten could do nothing to mask the nervousness in her voice.

"The Illusive Man doesn't give bad intel, Tungsten," Ice reassured. "Something changed. Something was miscalculated. I don't know. Look, I know our orders were to exfil, but we can't even do that. We might as well get the Lieutenant and find another way off the ship."

"Maybe it's the stress talking, but I don't see anything else we can do right now. I can't access any of the terminals and we can't get back to the Accretion. You're in charge now, Corporal. Make the call."

"I never wanted to be in charge. Augh." Ice shook his head and placed a hand on his forehead in thought. "Alright. Light, Trigger, Tungsten, we're going to attempt- we're going to retrieve Top and find another way off the ship. We don't know what we are really facing, so stay alert." Ice was doing his best to sound confident, but he got the feeling that the others weren't hearing it. Tungsten was a better leader than he, but he outranked her. By one rank.

Unfortunately, before they could even group up to move out, two flying and glowing orbs flew into the room from opposite doors and started harassing Light and Trigger with divebomb maneuvers and small shots that got absorbed by their kinetic barriers.

"Combat drones!" Tungsten shouted as she picked her assault rifle up from the nearest terminal and began to take aim at the drones. The problem was, they were too close to her squadmates to make any real shots, so she ran down towards Light and Trigger to help them fight them off.

Ice pulled out his shotgun, but hesitated to join the fray. Suddenly a third combat drone entered the room and flew right for the three of his clustered squadmates. The two harassing combat drones flew off, and before the soldiers could react to the third drone, it released a massive burst of electricity that arced between all three of them. The combat drone fell to the ground in burnt pieces, but each of the victims were left twitching on the ground. They didn't appear to be dead, but at the very least, they couldn't move.

"Son of a-" Ice shouted as he rushed to his squadmate's sides, keeping a close watch on the doors. Unfortunately, watching two doors at the same time wasn't simple, and he could only aim at one at a time. He grabbed a grenade from his belt and he held it high, ready to throw it at the door on his right with intent to flush out whoever sent the drones in. He hesitated again, which proved to be his ultimate downfall. The sound of a sniper rifle was heard and the armed grenade in Ice's wound-up hand exploded on the spot as a shot pierced through it and the hand clutching it.

Ice was a goner. His shields couldn't withstand a grenade blast in his very own hand, and he fell to the side from the force of the explosion in a state comparable to hamburger. Light, Trigger and Tungsten, while still on the ground and now with broken kinetic barriers from the grenade blast, were still alive. A team of eight quarians and a salarian filed into the room and observed the aftermath. One quarians was different, though. He wore human-style hardsuit boots on top of his environmental suit. A trophy, maybe? He was also in the pocket covered plain dark steel color of an undecorated quarian environmental suit, unlike the others. He wielded a pistol in one hand and a strange black knife in the other. She had to guess that was the one that hunted the sweep team down without making so much as a single shot.

Light and Trigger were promptly executed by two of the quarians. Tungsten was left stiff as a pole in a contorted position on the floor, staring up at the gathering aliens. One particular quarian, the one who had a sniper rifle in her hands and a blade sheathed on her calf, stood over Tungsten and just stared down at her. Tungsten, however, was not beaten just yet. She managed to gain control of her right arm and hand enough to pull out her pistol and aim it point blank at the smug quarian's helmet covered face. She cracked a drooling smile, and just as she went to pull the trigger. . .

A shot from off to the side boomed around the briefing room and the pistol in Tungsten's hand shattered, along with several of her fingers. She tried to scream in pain, but she only managed a set of grunts as the muscles around her lungs continued to spasm from the electric shock. The plain quarian with the human boots lowered his aim and stepped over to the sniper quarian. He offered her the pistol he shot her with and she gave it a brief stare before accepting it. She brought the pistol down only inches away from Tungsten's face, aimed directly at her forehead. This close, Tungsten could easily recognize the pistol. It looked like a modified Kassa Fabrication pistol, and a new one at that. The last thing Tungsten would experience was the sound of the quarian's voice as she spoke.

"Keelah se'lai."

Another loud bang rang in Tungsten's ears for only a moment, and the world around her fell away faster than a blink of the eye.

"Nicely done, team," captain Kortel congratulated. "We have only one thing left to do. Tosh?"

"Unlocking the airlock now, ma'am," Tosh informed with a nod. He brought up his omni-tool and tapped on it a few times. Down the hall, they could hear the airlock doors opening.

"Aww, geez," Kevin complained as he noticed the half-destroyed briefing table. "I was hoping that _wouldn't_ happen."

"We tried, Folner," Tosh assured. "I even used my shock drone in place of my explosive one."

"There's just no fixing this. . . So how does it work from here?" Kevin asked as the entire team moved towards the neck of the ship.

"We infiltrate their ship through their own boarding airlock," Siri stated. "We'll probably have to deal with additional threats inside. My guess is that they will not be as heavily armed."

Bela, Kar and Riik were distributing the high end guns that they had collected from the soldiers. Rosenkov weapons outclassed most of theirs by a great deal, and this was a welcome upgrade. Kevin accepted one of the assault rifles from Bela and collapsed it before clipping it onto his back. Riik, Tyr and Siri took up new assault rifles, Kar and Bela took shotguns, Tosh got a new SMG and Arla replaced her aging pistol. With the old weapons set down on the jagged, burned edge of the briefing table, the team gathered both in and just outside the airlock.

"We will need to move in quickly," Siri explained. "It is likely they won't be expecting us, but it will only be moments before they attempt to take counter-measures."

"I believe I might be able to help with that, captain," Tosh jumped in. "My programs have successfully cracked their firewalls. They weren't the same as the Kellius' new ones, but heuristics started picking up on a few calculated differences and adjusted accordingly. I planted a rootkit within their VI and should remain undetectable at least for a few hours. With my knowledge of the VI here and the ways Terra can use tunnels and ports to control ship functions, I have been able to gain limited access to the functions of their ship as well. At your command, I can disable thrusters, their drive core, weapons, and a few other systems I haven't had the chance to identify."

The team was silent after that dump of information, and they simply stared at Tosh. After a short while, Siri spoke up.

"Well done, Rolush. We'll activate that once we're inside. We don't want to give them too much of a heads up."

Tosh nodded and readied his SMG.

"Votis, Merni and Garloh will be on point for this assault. The rest of us will follow closely behind. If you hear gunfire, move up to assist. Rolush, I'll trust you to keep the exit secure. I need you away from the front to keep an eye on ship functions. Everyone clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone responded.

"Move up!" Siri shouted over their comms. Their conversations from here on out would be comms only to prevent anyone from hearing them as they moved into the enemy ship.

Riik, Bela and Tyr simultaneously moved through the enemy's airlock and right into the first well lit and empty room.

"Clear," Tyr stated. "One exit."

As the rest of the team moved in, the three on point moved up to the only door out of the room and took up cover on either side of the door. Tosh casually grabbed a seat off to the side and started working on his omni-tool again. The three up front activated the door panel, but the door didn't open.

"Rolush, this door won't open," Bela informed.

"I see it. Looks like a standard protocol for when the boarding airlock is engaged. You should be able to open it now."

The team tried their hand at activating the door panel again and this time it opened. Beyond the door was a nearly straight and long hallway with an elevator to the upper decks immediately off to the left. It appeared as though the hallway ran along the side of the ship, as the doors were all along the left side of the hall. The design of the ship's interior was rather conservative and plain. It looked as though that whoever designed it went out of their way to hide any wires, pipes or tubes that might normally run along corners or a room or hall. The plus side to this was that it made each area more or less visually noiseless. It would be easy to find and track targets in such a clean cut environment.

"Deck by deck sweep," the captain ordered. "Stay together and check your corners."

The three in front moved into the hallway and the rest followed suit. They quickly noticed that on this end of the hall, the only way to the upper decks other than the tight maintenance tunnels was the elevator. They knew this was both a good and bad thing. Good in that once they cleared the deck, there wouldn't be any other direction that the enemy could really attack them from. Bad in that they had to concentrate their position while attacking higher decks, and that was never a good thing.

_"I've suppressed intruder alarms, captain,"_ Tosh radioed._ "They still don't know we're here, so I haven't tinkered with their systems yet. Their VI is currently tracking ten active profiles aboard the ship, but it'll take me a few more minutes to figure out where they all are. Rolush out."_

Siri nodded to the others and they continued their sweep of the deck. Engineering was across the hall towards the aft from the centered elevator, and there were about five rooms or so to check out on this deck. Their first stop, though, would be engineering. Siri and Tyr were fairly certain that they'd find personnel there. They activated the panel on the large door and everyone aimed their guns into the room in preparation for whatever hostilities they found staring back at them.

What they found were two men dressed in typical serviceman's gear, working on some terminals near the far less flashy eezo drive core. They both glanced back at the ones who entered half-heartedly, expecting it to be one of their superiors. They each made a second take at the same time, noticing both the number of people in the doorway as well as the fact that none of them were human. Even more importantly, they were all very well armed. They either didn't think to hard about their odds or they were compelled not to surrender by some sense of duty since they both pulled out pistols from doors under their terminals and tried to take aim at the interlopers. It was a bad decision, and both men fell to the ground in pools of blood following a quick round of shots from two quarians and a salarian.

Kevin and the others knew that there was no way to mask the sound of gunshots echoing throughout the ship. The remaining crew certainly knew that they were aboard now. The team quickly filed out of engineering and started down the hall, checking each room for hostiles. After finding each room empty all the way to the fore of the ship, they began backtracking towards the elevator they saw earlier.

"Rolush, I need those locations," Siri said with a hint of urgency.

_"Just got them for you. There are only eight now, since I assume those shots earlier were the two you encountered in engineering. The remaining eight all seem to be concentrated in a forward room on the top deck. Probably the bridge. They seem to have noticed the missing engineers, judging by the activity in the VI. Be careful on your way up. I'd also like to note as well that I've cut off their engines and drive core."_

As Tosh explained the situation, Ralik, Kevin and Tyr started gathering thick and slightly tall objects into the elevator and lined them up along the door to be used as cover just in case there was a welcoming party.

"Noted. Alright team, inside the elevator. Let's make this quick so we can get home," Siri ordered.

The elevator was easily big enough for all of them to fit inside. After each person hopped over the makeshift cover, they called the lift to the top deck and waited. They all made ready to do battle with a squad of eight servicemen, but when the doors opened, they were once again disappointed. There was nobody there but the wall on the other side of the walkway that spread left and right around the elevator. They could hear lots of yelling, though. Particularly one woman who seemed to be in charge.

"Yes, all of it! Make sure _all_ the data is gone! We don't want them backtracing anything, do you understand me? Fry it all!"

They all looked at each other for a moment before hopping out of the elevator and into the hall. As they thought, the hall wrapped around the elevator on both sides where it then came together and ran down the center of the ship. They broke into two groups – one that went left and one that went right. When they stopped at where the hallway came back together, they spotted two servicemen running down the hallway armed with pistols. They didn't notice the aliens at the end of the hallway, but were focused entirely on a certain room, which they quickly entered. The team of invaders collected and started down the hallway the moment the door to that room shut. Not more than a few seconds later, Tosh came over the comms again.

_"Captain, I'm seeing a massive purge of data from the memory banks, both volatile and non-volatile. I can keep them from disabling the VI and my connection, but I can't stop them from purging the data from here."_

"That's fine, Rolush. We're not here to steal their dirty secrets," Siri said. "Just make sure they don't do anything stupid, such as activate a self-destruct sequence."

_"Understood, ma'am."_

The moment that the team stepped up to the door where the two men ran into, they activated the door panel and Bela, Riik and Tyr walked inside. As the door shut behind them, the rest of the team could hear the short and decisive firefight unfold inside what they figured was the VI Core room. Merely seconds later, the three returned to the group and they set up to face anyone that approached from the room at the front. That short burst of fire was sure to attract the others. Sure enough, the lone door at the end of the hall opened up to reveal the final six crew members aiming down the hall at the group of quarians with pistols in hand. The most decorated among them, probably the same woman that was shouting earlier, had an assault rifle in her hands.

Both sides opened fire immediately. The biggest difference between the two sides in this bout was that the quarian team, with the exception of Kevin, all had kinetic barriers. The servicemen at the other end of the hall had no protection whatsoever. Both sides took fire, but the quarian team took no physical damage thanks to their shields. The Cerberus servicemen on the far side of the hall were not so fortunate. They were all quickly gunned down in a large spray of blood, and not one of them survived the initial onslaught – even the ones who were half behind the walls for cover.

The quarians, Kevin and Ralik let loose a quick cheer. The ship was theirs.

In the following minutes, the team spread out around the ship to make sure there were no stragglers that were not pointed out by the VI. Satisfied that all threats had been eliminated, the entire team regrouped back on the Kellius to further discuss their next course of action. Now that the ordeal was over, the Kellius was no longer in its falsified downed state.

"So what are we doing with the Cerberus ship, captain?" Bela asked.

"I say we bomb it. Gather what we can and take it out right away and prevent further issue," Riik stated.

"I say that Cerberus has just made a generous donation to the Migrant Fleet," Kevin noted.

"Votis?" Siri asked, waiting for his rebuttal.

"Horrible idea. Who knows what sort of tracking and listening bugs Cerberus has planted on that vessel. If we take it to the Migrant Fleet. . ."

"Then what?" Kevin asked confidently. "We've taken out all the bugs on the Kellius, who is to say we couldn't do that to their ship as well? Besides, The Illusive Man already knows where the flotilla is. He was listening in on that conversation, remember?"

Siri looked back towards Riik for his next counter.

"I still say it's a bad idea to bring a Cerberus vessel to the flotilla."

"I'm sure there are plenty of able techs at the Migrant Fleet who can handle whatever surprises Cerberus left that we miss. At the very least, it makes for a very nice trophy ship."

Once more Siri waited for Riik's final word, but none came. He simply sighed and lifted his shoulders.

"I have to say, I agree with Folner," Kar added. "The Migrant Fleet is always in need of new ships, and this one carries a lot of fresh tech."

"It is settled, then," Siri stated. "We'll do a quick sweep of the ship for bugs like we did before and clean the VI of any potential controls we don't want. After this is done, I'll assign a team to pilot the ship back to the Migrant Fleet. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the quarians sounded.

The Accretion, as they came to find out the name of the ship was, was a bit larger than the Kellius. Despite this, it took the team less time to clear the whole vessel of bugs. There were less than half the number listening bugs throughout the ship, and killing the tracking bug software went just as quickly as it did on the Kellius. There was no TERA system on the ship, and most of the commands to control the ship's systems were rooted directly into the VI. 'Almost in plain sight' according to Tosh. While the VI on the Accretion could not take over control of all the systems like the Terra-VI combination on the Kellius, it still had the ability to shut certain things down if needed. That's how Tosh explained as why he was still able to shut down certain systems.

Having taken care of the housecleaning on the Accretion, the team reassembled in the bridge of their new ship.

"Rolush, Votis, Garloh and Welkas – you will be the team in charge of bringing the Accretion to the Migrant Fleet. After we hit the last relay before the flotilla, give us about a five minute delay before following us to the fleet so that we have time to alert them of the situation with the Cerberus hunter-seeker. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am," came the emotionally mixed reply. Tyr and Kar were on the lighter side, Tosh was relatively neutral, and Riik wasn't so thrilled.

"The rest of us, back to the Kellius so we can finally go home."

"Yes ma'am!" the rest excitedly responded. The quarians were all eager to get home after all this.

Back on the Kellius, those that had returned gathered as much usable equipment from all of the fallen Cerberus soldiers as they could before jettisoning them out the airlock. This granted Kevin a shield module for his suit, and he no longer felt quite as exposed to fire as before. Additionally, they gathered a few explosive grenades and Kevin found a few EMP grenades on one of the suited corpses. Thermal clips were collected and other typical soldier equipment was piled on a corner of the breifing room table.

Ralik and Kevin once again reset the course back to the Raheel-Layya system. Once the ship accelerated away towards the Dholen relay, Kevin and the remaining three quarians gathered in the newly battle-scarred briefing room. They still had some time to chat before they reached the Migrant Fleet as the Kellius skipped through the galaxy via primary and secondary relays like an experienced woodsman hopping across memorized stones in a creek.

"Well done back there, Kevin," Siri stated as she walked over to him to help him sort out the various pieces of equipment they had collected.

"Hmm?" Kevin replied, distracted with sorting.

"I have to admit, while I figured you would not be easy to sway, I could not deny the strategical advantage you would have held over us should you have turned. I wasn't so sure you were on our side. Not until I saw the way you killed that Cerberus operative in the hallway."

"Are you saying that I've gained enough points now?" Kevin asked with a hidden smirk.

"Perhaps," was the captain's simple reply.

"I suppose that's better than where I was several hours ago," Kevin commented.

"Indeed." There was a brief moment of silence in the room as the small klinks of shifting equipment overpowered the general hum of the ship.

"You know," Bela started. "It's weird. Seeing you in a quarian suit. If I didn't see your legs, I'd never know you weren't quarian until I got close enough to see that your eyes didn't shine."

"Merni, stop," the captain hushed.

"What? I'm just telling it like it is. It's better than trying to act like that's not the case."

"It's alright, Siri. I don't mind," Kevin stated. "A straight up answer is refreshing after all the blurred truth I've had to wade through in the past."

"Speaking of truths, I do believe I promised to explain what we were doing before we left for the Migrant Fleet," Siri said.

"Now _this_ I have to hear," Kevin said, no longer sorting gear.

"In truth, we were on a mission given to us directly from the Admiralty Board. The Admiralty Board is a-"

"You don't have to waste an explanation on me, captain," Kevin interjected. "I know what the Admiralty Board is."

Siri had to pause for a moment. How could a human know what the Admiralty Board was if he'd never been to the fleet? Perhaps someone else explained it to him? Regardless, she continued.

"Anyways, the request – while from the Admiralty Board on a whole – was asked of us specifically by Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema. It was about some leaked information that Tosh'Rolush had intercepted a while ago while he was aboard the Neema. Listen closely, because what I'm about to tell you is regarded as highly classified information, and only a few outside the high military powers of the council races know about it. Apparently the geth had managed to activate a relay that was long removed from the star charts on the premise that it was dead."

Kevin grew a sharp smile under that helmet of his and he nodded his head. "The Melkanis relay. Yes, I'm familiar with that as well."

"What- how do you know of it? Unless. . ." Siri paused and simply stared at Kevin. "You continue to impress me, Folner. Your knowledge of the relay is something else. How did you know about it? Did you scour our data?"

"Hardly. While I could have asked Ralik to mine your data, I didn't. You see, that's why we were heading out here as well. We intercepted data from a military leak before the server was shut down. Wait, don't tell me you guys were the only other connection that Tarsil detected?"

"Small galaxy," Bela said with a chuckle.

"So you were heading to the same relay as us?" Siri asked. "May I ask why?"

"Nothing short of reconnaissance, research and discovery," Ralik piped in from the bridge. "Since we're laying everything down on the table, I suppose I'll add to the pile. We aimed to gather as much information about what was on the other side of the relay as we could, return and reap the benefits of supplying data that no one had to the various curious and immensely well compensated factions."

"What about you guys?" Kevin asked.

"Our mission had several objectives. One was to learn about these unfamiliar geth ship profiles, and gather data on how they evolved from other more well known models. Another was to investigate the relay, use it and note any geth involvement on the far side. A side mission to these was to destroy as many geth as we conceivably could with whatever resources we had. The last part of the mission was to search for habitable planets on the far side of the relay. Since no one had ever been there before, our chances of finding a planet that we could live on near the relay was greater there than anywhere else in the galaxy. Surely, each of the admirals had their hand in this mission design. Tosh'Rolush was transferred to being under my command since our ship was the most capable and ready for a deep space trip. We shaved our crew down from four hundred plus, gained a few extra marines and were on our way."

"That's kind of funny. We were both heading to the same place," Bela noted.

"That's why I said it wasn't very far off the beaten path when we heard your distress call," Kevin stated.

"And it's still a moot point in my book," Siri chuckled.

Kevin in turned shook his head with a chuckle. She was stubborn, alright. He noticed Arla staring at him from across the table, but she wasn't saying anything.

"Arla, don't you have anything to say? You're awfully quiet over there," Kevin called her out.

"Not really," she said.

"If this is about 'the usual' problem, then tell me. I'd rather know than just get- I'd rather just know."

"It's not. We resolved that already. Don't worry about it."

Kevin raised a brow at her strange behavior. Similarly, Siri was weirded out as well.

"Tavval, are you feeling alright? Did you take any fire and forget to clamp down the wound?"

"No ma'am. I mean, yes ma'am, I'm fine."

Siri looked at Bela and Bela at her. Bela shrugged in response and Siri went back to looking at Arla. "We'll talk about it once we're on the Neema."

"Yes ma'am."

"Kevin, we've cleared the last relay," Ralik called from the bridge. "We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Already, huh? Alright," Kevin said

"I should get to the bridge," Siri mentioned. "I will need to talk to the Migrant Fleet Marines before they open fire on our ship."

With that, everyone, not just Siri, moved into the bridge to look out the viewports. The dual suns Raheel and Layya emitted a similar bright white light that flooded the whole system. In the vast distance ahead, they could see the sparkle of reflecting sunlight from the massive fleet of ships absorbing solar rays for power. Within a couple minutes that fleet grew drastically in size, with almost all the ships completely dwarfing the Kellius. Soon enough, a message with a quarian accent came over the comms.

_"You are approaching a no fly zone. Please identify yourself and your purpose. You have one minute to respond or our defenses will be forced to fire upon you."_

"This is Captain Siri'Kortel vas Del'Forverna nar Neema. We request permission to dock with the Neema."

_"Your ship is unknown. Please verify."_

"Though I left to search the stars for what I hold dear, I return to what I've held dear all along."

_"Acknowledged and permission granted. Welcome home, Siri'Kortel. We are sorry for the loss of your ship. We will inform the Neema of your arrival. You are cleared to approach docking rig three."_

"Thank you. We will need a cleaning crew and a security detail. This ship is not clean. Additionally, there is another ship following in my wake flagged as a Cerberus hunter-seeker. Do not fire upon that ship. My chief Tyr'Garloh has commandeered it and is bringing it in to be integrated into the flotilla. He will give verification once you contact him."

_"Understood. We will notify the marines who make contact. Migrant Fleet out."_

"How did they know that your ship was destroyed?" Kevin asked Siri.

"The prefix 'Del' before a ship name means that the ship you are officially known under has been stolen, destroyed or otherwise not under your control anymore and you have yet to be transferred," the captain explained.

Kevin simply nodded.

"If I may ask, would you mind remaining docked with the Neema for a while?" Siri asked with a tilt of her head. "I'm sure the admiral will want to speak with our saviors."

Kevin looked to Ralik, who shrugged.

"Sure, we can do that. Is this going to take a while?"

"After we leave the Kellius, probably a few hours. We will have to give our full report as a team to the admiral in order for him to have any reason to come see you. You'll need to stay on the Kellius however."

"That's fine. I don't know if I could set foot on the Migrant Fleet anyways. I'd feel all. . . Awkward. Especially looking the way I do."

The ship weaved through the somewhat dense collection of various vessels towards one particularly large ship. It was one of the few massive ships, and it consisted of a large, slowly spinning ring at the front with a long trail of crates and storage containers. That must have been the Neema. Kevin guessed correctly, as the Kellius – who was now being guided by a set of smaller fighters – approached a docking rig along its port side just behind the huge ring. A couple of docking magnets latched onto the ship to keep it in place and a boarding hall extended from the Neema. The Kellius shook slightly as the docking process completed, and the three quarians standing in the bridge gathered in front of the airlock. The airlock opened and two pairs of quarian marines with assault rifles stepped into the airlock and stood against the left and right walls.

"Sit tight, Folner. We'll hopefully be back in a few hours," Siri said before being escorted out of the Kellius with her two subordinates by her fellow Migrant Fleet Marines. The airlock closed behind them and the room fell relatively silent again.

"Hopefully?" Kevin wondered aloud. He knew she wouldn't respond, but he wasn't a fan of the word 'hopefully'. That generally meant that someone didn't quite know what was going to happen. He sighed and looked to Ralik.

"I guess we just wait," Ralik said.

"Oh, don't worry. There's plenty to do," Kevin smugly mentioned. "Like cleaning up all the blood stains in the briefing room and in engineering."

"I was afraid you'd mention that," Ralik admitted.

"Come on, it's not set into carpet or anything. There's cleaning supplies in the large closet next to the life support hardware."

"Don't remind me," Ralik said as he hesitantly got up from his seat to begin the not so interesting task of cleaning up blood with Kevin.


	17. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16**_

It had been at least four or five hours since Kevin and Ralik began their tireless quest to clean up the mess left by the Cerberus operatives. At least, Kevin _thought_ it had been four hours. He always had trouble keeping track of time while doing particularly boring jobs. It happened while he was checking the inventory back when he picked up the quarians, and it happened again here. Even when he had Ralik helping him scrub the stains off the walls and floor, it didn't make the job any less mind numbing.

Regardless, Kevin found himself going over the events that led to the very stains he was painstakingly scrubbing away. Things went far better than he could have ever hoped for, and he owed a lot of the success of that battle to the quarians. Their plan and knowledge of the ability to obscure the battlefield with confusing signs of various internal system failures gave him the perfect opportunity to strike their enemies down one at a time with a precision that would have been very difficult to match otherwise.

With that in mind, he had to wonder how they were taking the battle, emotionally. He had plenty of experience in getting up close and personal with his targets before mercilessly taking their lives. Ralik likely did as well in one way or another since he was in the STG, but he wondered if the quarians did. From what he _did_ know about quarians and their marines, most of them were trained to be more a sort of police keeping the peace on the flotilla and such. He figured there were some who took on more threatening figures, such as the geth, but he didn't quite know if any of the quarians he personally knew had ever done that. He did, however, have a few personality flags he could stick to each that might point such a fact out.

Captain Kortel was a very straightforward leader, knowledgeable about the battlefield and efficient in her decision making. This tended to lean her towards one who had been in these sorts of situations before, possibly even an actively fighting soldier before she ranked up. She's the one who supposedly came up with a plan to deal with boarding pirates, after all. Tyr _had_ to have been an active fighter. It was made clear to him from the beginning that he doubled as Siri's strategist, and has proven himself many times in Kevin's eyes as a capable fighter in the field.

Riik Probably was as well. An understanding of combat tactics and weapons _that_ ingrained was not wasted on policing the Migrant Fleet. Bela and Arla had the gear and attitudes of people who have fought in real battles before, but he doubted that either had seen any intense combat prior to their last battle with the geth. Tosh was a tough one. He hid his emotions behind knowledge and explanation, and such disconnects are not unheard of for active soldiers. He did also handle his drone fairly well in dealing the crippling blow to the group of Cerberus soldiers in the briefing room. And Kar. . . Judging by the kid's general disposition, it was highly unlikely that he'd even shot a weapon until the geth attack on their crashed ship.

All this aside, Kevin didn't even get a chance to see if there had been any real emotional impact on the crew since the fight, and it didn't help that he couldn't see any of their faces. In fact, the only one he knew of that had a noticeably different air about them afterwards was Arla, and that was just downright creepy. He wondered if the quarians knew about Cerberus and what they were and if that helped motivate them at all. In the end, he would most likely never know.

After the task of cleaning was done, Kevin returned to the briefing room to see if the others had returned yet. They hadn't. Kevin sighed and leaned against the damaged table with folded arms. They said it would take a few hours, but he didn't expect it to take this long. He wasn't all that worried, though. They had to restock some fuel before they would be able to resume their journey back towards the Melkanis relay, so they weren't exactly short on time. Even still, he hoped they might hurry up a bit.

This moment of downtime gave him a chance to actually stop and think about what he was getting himself into. Things were already stranger than he'd imagined, and he hadn't even seen the relay yet. He unfolded his arms and he stared at his hands. Three fingers. He placed his right hand on the unique chin of his helmet to feel its proper shape. The chin of a quarian. Bela had made a fairly valid point to him earlier: If it weren't for the legs, she would think he was another quarian. He had to wonder how anyone who hadn't been around to see his 'transformation' would react to seeing him. Would they identify him as a human because of the feet, or would they identify him as a quarian since the remaining eighty percent of his appearance matched theirs? The answer in his head leaned more towards the latter.

He thought about taking the top of the helmet off so that he could breathe the air of the ship once more. It was at this point that he realized that he had no idea how to take it off. Tosh never explained to him how to remove the helmet, or the whole suit for that matter. Now he was glad he decided to stay. He would have just flown off and realized this after leaving the flotilla had he not. He certainly wasn't going to risk damaging his only viable breather helmet trying to force it off, either. This was a curious predicament to him. He could get a new hardsuit when they returned to the Citadel, if he was able to remove the one he was in now. Suddenly, a different question popped into his head. What if he decided to stay in the suit anyways? It would make things interesting, and he was already starting to get used to the feel of it. Unfortunately, without any quarians around to help him learn how to maintain his suit, this was hardly an option. It was decided, then. When he and Ralik returned to the Citadel to refuel, he would purchase a new hardsuit. Hopefully he would get a moment with Tosh to have him explain how to remove the suit without incident.

Right after he made that decision, he heard the airlock doors open. From the airlock, Bela'Merni stepped into the Kellius. Kevin went back to having his arms folded as he looked in her direction, curious about what was to happen. She looked back at him and speed walked into the briefing room.

"Folner," she called to him. "The admiral is on his way now. Captain Kortel sent me ahead to make sure you and Dolannus were ready. Where is that sly salarian, anyways?"

"Probably down in engineering cleaning off his lab gear. Let me get him up here."

"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes with the rest of the team," Bela said with a nod before heading back out the airlock.

"Hey Ralik," Kevin called over the comms.

_ "Yes, Kevin, what is it? I'm busy with my lab,"_ Ralik replied.

"Get up here, man. The admiral's going to be here soon."

_"Can it wait a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations."_

Kevin let his head hang for a moment in disappointment before replying. "No, of course it can't wait. I'm not going to look like a fool because you decided to show up late to our brief meeting with the quarian admiral."

Ralik sighed. _"Alright, fine. I'll be there in a minute. Just let me cancel out of my work."_

Kevin shook his head at the salarian's attitude about meeting up with the admiral. If it were anyone else, he'd wonder if they had an issue with the quarians. This, however, was just Ralik being Ralik. There was no excuse for him, and Kevin wasn't going to attempt to make any on his behalf. After a few minutes, Ralik had entered the briefing room as promised, and not a moment too soon. Just as the salarian was about to settle into a chair, the airlock doors opened again. Despite this, Ralik sat down anyways. There was a myriad of footsteps outside on their way in, and he heard Siri shouting outside the docking cradle.

"Make way, Admiral on deck!"

Kevin imagined that there were more marine escorts this time, which made sense. Kevin kicked Ralik in the leg as a wordless way of getting him to stand up, and to his surprise, Ralik stood. A pair of quarian marines stepped in and stood at the corners of the airlock in the neck of the ship with assault rifles in their hands. They turned to look inwards just as Siri, Bela and the rest of the quarians Kevin personally knew stepped aboard and filed into the front of the briefing room. They all lined up around the outside of the front half of the room, with Riik and Siri in the middle, blocking the entrance to the bridge.

"It's your lucky day, Kevin," Siri noted. "The admiral said he wanted to see you two."

"Making me feel special, Kortel," Kevin lightheartedly jested.

Riik straightened up and started a military introduction for his admiral. "Listen up! Admiral aboard! I introduce: Admiral-"

Riik was lightly pushed aside by a male quarian about the same height as Riik, with rather grayed out colors on his suit and a very dark visor.

"I'm right here, corporal," the new, older sounding quarian stated casually. "I can introduce myself."

"My apologies, admiral!" Riik shouted as he stepped aside. The admiral just shrugged it off.

"Greetings, I am-" the admiral started, but cut himself short.

It seemed he was staring at Kevin, and Kevin knew it. There was a brief moment of extremely awkward silence as the admiral continued to analyze Kevin. The other quarians in the room seemed suddenly anxious as they looked to the admiral for his imminent response.

"Siri'Kortel, what exactly am I looking at here?" the admiral asked.

"Admiral, this is Kevin Folner," Siri responded after a bit of hesitation.

"The human kid? You didn't mention _this_ in your report."

"This was how we ended up saving him from the vacuum," Siri explained. "I apologize, admiral, I left this detail out of the report for fear that you wouldn't come."

"Siri, you don't have to omit these things to me in your reports. You know I'm not one to jump to conclusions that easily."

"Dually noted, sir," Siri said.

"As I was saying. . . Greetings, Captain Kevin Folner and Ralik Dolannus. I am Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema. I've heard the full report from Siri'Kortel, and I must say I'm rather. . . Impressed by your actions."

"A pleasure to meet you, admiral," Kevin responded. "I must admit, you have me feeling a bit awkward. I never even met _my _admirals face to face when I was in the alliance military. Never thought I'd be meeting a quarian one."

"_You're_ feeling awkward?" Han'Gerrel asked with a chuckle. "When I got here and saw you, I thought Siri was playing a joke on me. Crafty woman, she is."

"You know I'd never do that, admiral," Siri responded in an all-too-innocent tone.

"Now then, I believe thanks are in order," the admiral said, looking to Kevin and Ralik. "Siri'Kortel gave me the full report, and I have no reason to believe she exaggerated. That said, it sounds like you did quite a bit for the crew of the Forverna."

"We just did what we thought to be right, admiral," Kevin said "We were in the area. I'd never live it down to know I left people to their doom at the hands of the geth."

"But you did more than just pick our people up, didn't you? You stepped into Hell with them, pulled them out, and destroyed a lot of geth in the process. That takes guts, kid, and that's what I like to hear. Plus it seems you've made friends of the surviving crew. Knowing some of them myself, that's no small task."

"Glad we could be of assistance," Ralik said, likely eager to get this over with.

"What's going to happen now?" Kevin asked.

"Well, several things," Han replied. "These brave quarians need to be transferred to new ships to continue their service. More than that, there's the question of the mission. Siri told me that you already know what their mission was. Is this correct?"

"Yup," Kevin said.

"Right then. The mission was sanctioned by the Admiralty Board as a whole. While it was 'officially' my original idea, each had their part in the mission objectives, which I understand was a bit of a mistake. The mission is so broad that it'd be nigh impossible for one ship to undertake it, but we don't have a lot of ships capable of self-sustained deep space travel away from the Migrant Fleet. Captain Kortel here took up the mantle with enthusiasm, so we gave her some extra marines and equipment to do what she could."

"But now that ship is gone, and you're still left with unanswered questions," Kevin said, completing Han'Gerrel's thought.

"Precisely. I've already called to the other admirals to have them assemble on the Neema to discuss the next viable course of action. Captain Kortel, I'll need you, your lieutenant and your chief to join us for your insight. You have first hand knowledge of what went on out there, and we need your input."

"We would be honored to attend, admiral," Siri responded with a bow of the head.

"The other admirals will likely want _me_ to make any announcements to the people regarding this, since this whole thing was my brilliant idea. I'm not much of a public speaker, but it's part of my duties as admiral. Captain Folner, you and Ralik are welcome to stay and attend the announcement meeting. See the fruits of your labor, in a sense. The deliberations might take a while, I admit, but I'll send someone for you when we're ready to begin if you choose to stay."

Kevin spied Siri nodding at him, as if she wanted him to remain for the meeting. Counter to this, Ralik had something to say.

"We can't wait around here forever, Kevin. We still have our own things to take care of, yes?"

"Don't worry about that, Ralik," Kevin said quietly. "We're not in any hurry, so sure. We'll hang around for the meeting call. At least this way we'll get to see what we worked for."

"Alright then, I'll have the guards make the necessary preparations," Han said. "Normally we don't let non-quarians get involved in such things, but you've already made it a point to get involved. And quite frankly, I'm glad you did. Heck, the last time any outsider did this much for the quarian people, it was Commander Shepard. Turned out it was a good thing we brought him aboard the Rayya. Anyways, I look forward to seeing you at the proceedings, Captain Folner."

Admiral Han'Gerrel bowed his head to Kevin and Ralik before turning around to leave. He paused just before the airlock and looked back to them.

"Who knows? Maybe there will be something announced involving you."

As the admiral left, all the other quarians filed out with him leaving Ralik and Kevin alone in the briefing room again.

"Well, that went better than expected," Kevin said, relieved.

"Now we only have to wait another five hours," Ralik sarcastically remarked.

"Relax. We still have to go back to the Citadel to see if we can get more fuel from Tarsil," Kevin said, the corner of his mouth curling up in a smile to what he was about to say. "At least the cleaning's done."

"Why not just stop at the nearest refueling station?" Ralik asked. "It's not like we've dipped into our cargo-loaded extra yet."

"We don't know if The Illusive Man has tabs on refueling stations in the Traverse, but I'm pretty sure he can't keep tabs on all the docking stations on the Citadel. I imagine he's pretty pissed right now, and I'd rather not risk another hunter-seeker battle or whatever else he could be plotting."

Ralik sighed. "I'll be down in engineering," Ralik said, disinterested in Kevin's points and musings. "Call me when they show."

"Yeah yeah yeah," was Kevin's off-handed reply to the exiting salarian.

Kevin leaned against the burnt briefing table once more to think about what he should occupy his time with while he waited for the quarians to return. As he pondered his course of action, he was suddenly struck by a dreadful realization. One that he hadn't thought about dealing with until just now. Something _dire_.

He had to pee.

How, exactly, was he supposed to do this? Tosh said it took a lot of prep work to remove a suit, and even if he had the time, he still had no idea how to initiate such a process and Tosh wasn't likely to be back for hours. He had to keep calm – panicking would only agitate and make matters worse. Much to Kevin's dismay, however, the more he thought about how to take care of the situation, the more he had to go. This was something usually taken care of with little mental involvement as casually as undressing before a shower. Now he was suddenly he was forced to figure out what to do or risk. . . The potential results were not something he wanted to think about right now.

Thinking quickly, Kevin accessed his omni-tool. He remembered Tosh saying that there should be data now on it that detailed suit functions and the like. Quickly he searched the newest data installments in his database for anything relating to 'bathroom'. The search came back negative. Kevin slapped his own head when he realized that quarians don't have bathrooms. What a silly thing to search for. His next search, containing the word 'waste', yielded far more promising results. He read the data as it crossed his omni-tool's screen:

_The Enviornmental Suit model Ter'skelia Pais Mark 5, like all others, is equipped with the means to deal with nearly all bodily fluid and waste discharge, excluding blood loss from physical damage to the suit and body. As the user excretes a fluid or solid waste, it is extracted and contained upon leaving the body. The waste and/or fluid is then stored in containment bags lined in various sections of the Environmental Suit for removal at a later date. Refer to the Waste Removal documentation for optimal removal timeframes. Please remember to return waste material to the Migrant Fleet for processing into fertilizer. This is an important responsibility of the suit user!_

Extracted? Kevin didn't like that word at all, and it made him uneasy. He wondered just how compatible his. . . anatomy would be with such a suit function. He hoped to God it wouldn't hurt. Additionally, he had no idea if his suit had any of those waste containment bags the text mentioned. Luckily there was an internal link in the document that sent him to a screen that showed his suit's statistics. There were some usual counters and graphs for vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure and a couple others. Some of the vital signs hadn't translated properly and were still in quarian, but these were labeled as 'disabled'. There were a number of other things on the screen as well, but Kevin wasn't particularly interested in those at the time. After a quick manual search, he found a counter labeled 'Remaining Waste Bags'. The number beside it surprised Kevin – it read one hundred and five. Either quarians didn't give off much waste or they got really good at maximizing available space with those things. Regardless, Kevin was able to relax a bit now.

With this information in his mind, Kevin made ready. He looked around to make sure Ralik wasn't nearby, as despite being inside a completely enclosed environmental suit, he still felt the need to be alone when he did it. It was embarrassing. Even those years in the alliance with those communal bathrooms lined with urinals didn't change this. He stood up straight and forced his mind to let his strained bladder relax.

As the fluid left his body, it didn't pool or run down the legs of his suit as he initially feared. Instead, it seemed as though it had simply vanished. This was cause for relief to Kevin. It would take a lot of getting used to, but for now he would be able to deal with it. It was funny how a simple change of clothes made him react so drastically about something he hadn't actively thought about for years. Though his normal hardsuits never had such a function, they were easy to remove when he needed to go. Some even had 'Urinal hatches' for those times that he was cutting it close. Now that the crisis was over, Kevin was glad to put this initial learning experience behind him. Next time he won't have to stop dead in his tracks to go to the bathroom.

Kevin sighed and went back to leaning on the table behind him. What should he do while they waited? Why did he ask himself this so much? Did he really get bored this easily? It was at this point that his exhaustion from the past events finally caught up with him. Being knocked out was different than sleeping, and the fight with the Cerberus operatives only furthered his fatigue. It was quickly decided that a quick nap was in order. He definitely had at least _some _time before the quarians returned. Wearily, Kevin got up off of the table and made his way back to his room.

He took a moment to stop and look at himself in the giant mirror near the shower. Bela was right. Barring the legs, he looked surprisingly quarian. A plain quarian, but a quarian nonetheless. He supposed that was an easy bill to fit when your individual look was overruled by a suit you had to wear. Now he fully understood why quarians almost always exchanged names upon meeting and why they decorated their armor and suits with colored cloths and garments. Changing the exterior of the suit was the only real way they had to express the individualism that sapient life tended to covet. He himself was cheating a little, with the legs and all, but being told these facts didn't really hit home as much as it did to experience it. He pushed this small revelation into the back of his mind for now and he unhooked the belt holding his knife, removed his pistol and set them down on the table beside the terminal on the desk.

When he went to lay down, he was _yet again_ confronted with conflictions between how he normally did things and how he would have to do things while in the suit. For the most part, laying down in bed was not too bad. The tubes that ran along the arms and other parts of the suit didn't crumple or crush when they were pressed on, and the fact that it conformed to his body more or less meant that laying down was still comfortable. However, he was used to laying on his back with his head straight on the pillow. Because of the numerous outcroppings on the back of the helmet, he wasn't able to do that anymore. After a little tossing and turning, he eventually settled on laying on his side with an arm under his helmet. The inside of the helmet was actually rather comfortable to sleep in, counter to his thoughts. His hardsuit breather helmet was fine to wear, but it was too bulky to sleep in and the inside wasn't meant for laying down in. It made sense, though. How else would the quarians get their forty winks if the suit wasn't made to be comfortable all the time?

Comfort was a relative term, however. Kevin was still getting used to the feel of the environmental suit, even now. Trying to sleep in it was just the next experience he needed to face – much like the bathroom crisis not too long ago. Still, his weariness outweighed his comfort preferences and soon his eyelids shut on their own, letting Kevin get some much needed sleep.

Much to his dismay, a familiar voice crackled over his comms and woke him up on the spot. It was another issue he couldn't avoid. His comms were always on his head now.

"Folner, where are you?" It was Bela again.

Kevin rocked his head back and forth on the pillow, forcing himself from the groggy state he was swimming in. He caught a glimpse of the clock sitting on his desk, which read thirteen forty-two. Nearly eight hours since he had stumbled into bed. His eyes opened slowly, but surely and he sat up in the bed. He hit his comms and responded to Bela's calls.

"Ah. I'm here, Bela. Sorry, I fell asleep. I'll be out in a sec."

Kevin went to rub his face as he always did when he woke from a dead sleep, but alas that was restricted as well. Again the helmet prevented him from his usual customs. It was frustrating, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter at the moment. He turned to the side and hopped off of the bed. He stretched, grabbed his weapons and started for the briefing room. When he got there, he found that Ralik was already waiting for him with Bela and two unfamiliar Migrant Fleet Marines.

"Ralik, How did you know she was here? I didn't call you yet," Kevin asked.

"Terra informed me," Ralik replied, slightly miffed. "Apparently she feels the need to default to alerting _me_ to everything that goes on since she doesn't recognize your profile in that suit. Something we will have to remedy very soon, I think."

"Judging by your attitude, I'd say you fell asleep at your lab," Kevin jabbed.

"Perhaps. . ." Ralik quietly said. "Regardless, we'll have to reinitialize your profile so that Terra recognizes you again and frees me from these blasted alerts."

Kevin chuckled and turned to Bela and the two Marines.

"What's the news, Merni?"

"You two are cleared to come aboard, with limited access to the Neema," Bela responded with a nod.

"Wait, what?" Kevin asked in nervous surprise. "Hold on, I thought you were going to broadcast the meeting to the Kellius. I didn't think I'd be actually going _aboard_."

"Of course not, silly," Bela responded in a rather playful tone. "The admiral said he wanted to see you at the proceedings, remember? Don't worry, we'll all be there. We just got back from the deliberations, since they're finishing up. People are already starting to gather in the courtyard."

"I thought the admiral only wanted Kortel, Tavval and Garloh," Ralik pointed out.

"At first, yes," Bela explained. "Towards the end, the rest of us were called in. You'll see why at the announcement meeting. Now hurry up or we'll _all_ be late!"

"Alright, we're going," Ralik said as he threw on his breather helmet, seeming excited at the chance to see the inside of a quarian ship.

Kevin was as well, but to an extent. He was well aware of his situation, and he doubted that the entire crew of this massive ship could be informed about him and his appearance.

Bela took the lead while the two marines that accompanied her fell in line behind Kevin and Ralik. Once they stepped out of the airlock and took their first steps on the quarian vessel, the Neema, they were greeted by a long hallway that ran from a walled in room on their left down quite a ways off to their right where it ended at a large door. In front of them was something Kevin never thought he'd see: a large low-ceiling room that seemed to function as a sort of commercial plaza. Instead of buying goods however, the huge, but loosely packed crowd of quarians seemed to be exchanging items. It reminded Kevin of some old pictures of things called 'flea markets' from Earth's pre-Charon relay days. There were large cabinets and lockers lining the back wall where several quarians behind a long desk continually visited on behalf of those asking from the crowded side of the desk. They would occasionally pull items out or put some in depending on who they were talking to. Kevin noticed through the crowd that there were no credit chits to be found.

Morphing in out of the crowd, a few familiar marines stepped up to them.

"We'll take it from here, boys. Thank you," Captain Siri'Kortel ordered.

The two marines accompanying them saluted Siri and then headed off to return to whatever post they had previously been assigned.

"Welcome to the Neema, Folner, Dolannus," Siri said lightheartedly. "Don't mind the stares of the others. It's likely that none of them expected to see any aliens aboard the Neema."

"As long as they're staring at Ralik's big head and not mine, I'm fine," Kevin added.

"What?" Ralik curiously asked, turning around to face the crew. He was clearly preoccupied.

"Nothing. Let's go," Kevin said with a smile under his helmet.

"Follow close, you two. The Neema is rather busy right now since there are no mining operations in progress and everyone's home," Tyr informed.

"Perfect," Kevin said sarcastically under his breath.

As they walked, Kevin continued to take in the alien environment. Just like the downed ship he trekked on back when he helped the marines off that white planet, this one, though bigger, was equally cramped. He was surprised at the sheer volume of quarians for a ship this size. If this one area of the ship had this much traffic, he wondered what some of the other areas must be like. He would have been surprised to see this many people serving on an alliance cruiser, much less all in the same spot.

The ceiling was only about a foot out of Ralik's reach, and he was easily the tallest of their little group. The 'ceiling', as Kevin thought of it for lack of a better word, was no flat surface, but a messy compilation of crates, boxes and other storage containers held tight against the _real_ ceiling by a thick net. The net was sectioned into squares since the room they were in was larger than a hallway, and it was kept up by hooks around each square's edges. The area behind them towards the large doors had crates galore and manually run mobile heavy equipment for loading and offloading large objects. Kevin had to guess that the tail end of the ship was mostly for storage and transferring cargo onto ships.

Kevin and Ralik began to notice that the crowd nearest them was beginning to thin out, though the overall number of quarians in the room did not shrink. There was almost a large, invisible personal bubble that surrounded the aliens, and increasingly more quarians were taking notice of that social barrier.

"You there!" A voice called from the crowd. A male quarian pushed through the masses with ease and confronted Kevin and the others. "What happened to your suit? Do you need repairs?"

"Who, me?" Kevin asked.

Ralik and the others paused to wait for Kevin. They all turned around to look and see what was going on.

"Yes, you. Your suit from the knee down. It's deformed. I'm Faal'Jero vas Neema. Do you need repairs or medical attention? I can get you some right away."

"Kevin Folner. Uh. Vas Kellius? No, no I'm all set. Thank you though."

"I'm sorry, Faal'Jero, but he's with us," Bela casually mentioned. "We're needed in the courtyard.

"Oh, my apologies. I didn't mean to stall you. Marine business, right? Are you sure he doesn't need medical attention? He walks like a flat-foot."

"A what?" Kevin asked, turning back around to face the quarian.

"It's true, he does," a voice from the slowing crowd said.

Kevin never wanted all this attention. He was used to being unseen in the crowds, using them for cover as he approached unsuspecting targets. Having any group of anonymous beings focus on him gave him the feeling of being caught either before he could make his move, or as he did it. He would rather just get moving, but the masses insisted on investigating the curious.

"Come to think of it, his eyes are really dark, too. Is he feeling alright?" More voices from the observing quarians.

Kevin thought a simple statement might let them move along. "I'm not flat-footed, I'm human."

The crowd didn't shrug it off as Kevin hoped. Instead, several backed away with audible gasps instantly at the notion, causing a slight traffic buildup around them. Pretty soon even more were curiously investigating. Things were about to snowball.

"I was afraid of this," Tosh said, stepping over to Kevin's side. "Move along, my friends, there is nothing to see here."

"I would say there is. I see a human in one of our suits!" Someone shouted.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Why is a human taking up our valuable resources like that?"

"I think he's spitting on our traditions."

"Who let them in anyways?"

"That suit should be on a quarian where it belongs!"

"People, settle down," Tosh said, waving his captain over. "This is a matter for the Migrant Fleet Marines. I kindly ask that you step aside so that we may proceed to our destination."

"I just want to know why a human thinks he can bypass the rites of our youth and just don an environmental suit of his own like that," stated another.

"This human saved our lives," Siri said, intervening. "I think that's worthy enough of a rite."

The crowd hushed a moment as they spoke amongst themselves.

"That's not the same!"

"But why must he wear a suit of our kind? He doesn't require it like we do. And he boards our ship no less! Is he insulting us? All of us?" an anonymous quarian questioned, more curious about this abnormality than angry.

"There were extenuating circumstances. We had very little choice in the matter," Tyr said, stepping in.

"I think we all fall under that category!" Someone shouted, getting a small rise out of the crowd that stopped to observe.

"People, please. This human is experiencing things from a quarian perspective. Something no other has done. We all wish for the galaxy to understand our circumstances, do you not think he's the one in the best position to do it? Why should we act like bigots towards him? We are not that kind of people." Siri said with sage-like straightforwardness.

The observing masses fell silent.

"Instead of treating this one like he's trying to insult our people, help him understand by treating him as you would me, Siri'Kortel vas Del'Forverna. I do ask, however, that if you have genuine questions for him, please wait until after the announcements from the Admiralty Board are made."

Those in the crowds began to mutter amongst themselves before slowly dispersing to the way they were before. The air was filled with a tense, but less aggrivated mix of curiosity, offended indignation and temporary acceptance. Kevin released a short breath as the crowds began flow around them again, relieved to return to a state of incognito in a sense.

"Thank you, Siri," Kevin said with emphasized appreciation.

"Let's get moving before that happens again," Tyr suggested.

Everyone nodded at once and resumed their trek into the ship. Pretty soon, they filed through a traffic bottleneck – a wide door separating the room they were just in and a room that almost contrasted the densely packed air from before. To start, the room they stepped into had a much higher and more defined ceiling. There were big plants growing along the walls, both near the floor and higher up top as well. The number of quarians that moved about this room was less significant compared to the last room, but it was far from diminished. It was a much bigger room in physical size, so even if the number of bodies were the same, they wouldn't be as compacted. Even more, it seemed that most of them either used this room simply as a portal room to the docks and storage or a place to simply relax and chat with others. Small benches and other things to sit on dotted the perimeters, but other than this, there wasn't much in the way other décor or objects aside from the occasional crate or terminal.

On the far side of the surprisingly open room, there was a long set of shallow downward stairs that formed half of a broad circle. The height difference was not really enough to cause any significant injury should one fall, but it was partially surrounded by thick rails nonetheless. They looked more to Kevin like they were there to lean on more than they were there to keep people from unwittingly stumbling down. At the center of this lowered circle was a flat area where Kevin guessed some sort of performances or other attention focusing activities took place. Behind this, beyond the railed backside of the half-circle, was an area devoted to fauna and botany. It wasn't terribly big, but it was raised higher and housed a collection of alien plants ranging from the large ones on the wall to smaller, more colorful ones. There was a small path that raised from the rest of the room to cross the center of this patch, making the plants accessible – likely for care and maintenance. On either far side of the room were large doorless entryways connecting this open room to the other areas of the ship. Each were complete with the hustle and bustle of quarians coming and going.

At this particular point in time, there was what looked to be a temporary raised podium placed in the middle of the flat area at the center of the circle of stairs. It was only big enough for one person, so Kevin had to guess that it was where Admiral Han'Gerrel would be making his announcements from. There was already quite a number of quarians hanging around the steps, most of which seemed to be waiting patiently to see what was going to be said at the podium.

Kevin's group halted near the back of the room, near the door they passed through. They formed a small circle to communicate, something that was naturally prohibited in the other room due to lack of free space.

"Welcome to the Neema's courtyard, everyone," Siri said cheerfully. "I'm going to find the admiral and let him know we've arrived. We'll be starting as soon as he's ready." After she said this, she ran off into the bunches of quarians moving slowly across the room and disappeared.

"Wow," Kevin quietly exclaimed. "I thought quarian ships were more tightly spaced than this."

"They are," Tosh replied. "I transferred to the Neema after completing my pilgrimage. This is the courtyard, the largest open spaced room on the entire ship. Even the bridge and loading docks have only a fraction of the free space this room has. The admiral works hard to keep this particular room as clean and pleasant as possible, since any quarian can go here on their free time."

"Do all the ships in the flotilla have something like this?" Ralik asked.

"Most ships don't have enough space to have a courtyard," Bela said, obliging. "Usually only the homeships, liveships and I think the occasional large clan ship can afford something this nice."

"With populations as excessive as the Neema's, there has to be a place where people can go to loosen up a bit," Kar added. "The courtyard here is often a place where organized performances are conducted by various members of the ship to entertain the crew. It can get pretty lively in courtyards sometimes, from what I hear."

"There are also dueling tournaments from time to time on ships that allow that," Arla said, finally speaking up.

"And occasionally, on days like today, there is business to take care of," Tyr said, pointing to the podium that was being occupied by the Neema's admiral.

The moment he took place on the raised podium, other quarians from all over the room started to make their way over and take seats on the shallow steps around it. Those that couldn't fit in to take a seat leaned against the railing along the outside of it and intentionally left the open spaces between railing connections cleared. After that, the stragglers who came in too late to get a prime spot either gathered in the path behind the podium in the vegetation or simply stood behind those leaning on the railing. Kevin's group moved in and took up position around the opening in the railing directly in front of the admiral, and Siri joined them not a moment later.

Despite the thick crowd, there was very little pushing, shoving and other similar acts Kevin thought inherent in masses like this. More often than not, each quarian did their best to help others see the attraction at the center of the half-circle. It was clear each was very conscious about those around him or her, and they all worked to help their neighbor. They were certainly very friendly to their kin, and Kevin sincerely wished such continuing and simple acts of selflessness could be found in his own people, and others.

The admiral raised his hands to alert the crowds that he was ready to speak and the general hum of voices quieted down, even as other quarians passed through the room with alternate purposes.

"I thank you all for taking to time to come to this impromptu announcement meeting. Keelah se'lai."

The crowd around Kevin and Ralik all responded the same words in tandem once the admiral finished: "Keelah se'lai."

"I know many of you have important jobs to attend to, so I will keep this series of notices and narratives as brief as the situation allows. You are all aware of the continuous and pressing matter of where we, as the quarian people, are heading. Due to a recent and troubling event with one of our lab ships, the Alarei, the Admiralty Board was forced to face this issue more directly with a new sense of urgency.

"Many of you may _not_ be aware, however, of the various deep space missions a few fearless crews have been undertaking in order to help us find an answer to this most dividing subject. They brave dangers we cannot even fathom in service to the quarian people, and their efforts are most important to our future as a species."

The admiral paused for a short moment, focusing in the direction of Kevin's group.

"Will the crew of the Forverna please step forward."

The quarians Kevin knew all looked to their captain. Siri noded towards the podium without saying a word and they all began to move down the stairs in single file. Once they finished lining up in front of the admiral facing out to the crowd, the small path created for them by the sitting people filled back up.

"One particular deep space mission was very recently made available to us. My peers branded this mission as crucial, integral to our search for possibilities. A path we can safely know for sure that no other living being has taken. Unfortunately, that mission was also quickly decided as impossible due to the sheer crushing responsibility that would be placed on the one single ship sent away. Despite this, Captain Siri'Kortel vas Forverna and her crew stepped up to the task with full knowledge of what was required. The Forverna, a crew of two hundred and thirty two at the time of departure, was hardy and ready to face their new mission. We feared we were sending them to their doom, but Siri'Kortel assured us that her and her crew shared no such vision.

"Unfortunately, the Forverna has been lost to us. Our hearts grieve for those who perished aboard the ship under geth attack, fighting for our very future. But all is not lost. These formidable marines who stand before me live to tell the tale of their shipmates, their struggle to reach their destination and their final stand against our constant enemy. They are the first of any deep space mission to return with any news, and what we have learned only furthers our need to complete this mission.

"Captain Siri'Kortel has expressed personal interest in continuing this dangerous mission that nearly ended her entire crew. Her motivation for completing it is not just personal; the need for this information has hit home for her more than most of us standing in this room. Moreover, the surviving marines who have shown unequaled skill on the battlefield and a most indomitable will to survive and press forward have all requested to remain under her command. This in itself is a testament to her ability as a captain, and it brings home the bond we quarians all share no matter how many stars come between us and our home."

Kevin smiled warmly under his helmet and elbowed Ralik in the side as the admiral continued on with a speech that continued to remind the crew of the Neema what they all faced and just what was being done in the silent distance.

"Quite the talker, isn't he? Come on, let's leave these marines to their glory speech," he said quietly as he flicked his head back in the direction of the Kellius.

"Agreed," Ralik said, still watching the quarians get their fifteen deserved minutes of fame.

They both turned around and started to walk through the remaining crowd around the edge. Their aim was to make a timely and silent exit so that those who deserved recognition among their people would be able to do what they must without being further hindered. However, there was one last quarian surprise determined to reach them before they left the flotilla.

"Will the crew of the Kellius please step forward?" the admiral asked, this time more of a question than an order.

Kevin and Ralik stopped in their tracks and turned around to look a the thick crowd surrounding the few at the center. They both looked at each other once, looked back at the crowd, then returned their gaze to each other once more. The dense group of quarians sitting down and witnessing this event all turned their bodies and heads to look at the aliens in a wave that seemed to emanate from the center at the base of the stairs. Kevin raised his shoulders at Ralik as if to ask 'Should we go?', and Ralik responded by whimsically shrugging and nodding.

They started back towards the podium, at first having to push through the few that they had already bypassed once with the occasional 'excuse us' and 'coming through'. As they started down the steps, however, a path in the sitting suited people opened up for them right at their feet and it led them all the way to the center. There they stood, facing Siri'Kortel and her crew with the admiral Han'Gerrel just behind them looking down upon them. Yeah, they were a little anxious. Around them, the once silent crowd was now murmuring amongst themselves, wondering what was about to happen.

"Captain Kevin Folner and Ralik Dolannus. The next few topics I will be talking about are rather unusual, and they involve you. It has come to the attention of the Admiralty Board that with the Forverna no longer with us, we find that despite our vast fleet, are beginning to come up short on vessels prepared for deep space missions with such intense requirements as this.

"I have been told by Siri'Kortel that even though her crew has only spent a short time aboard your ship, you have made a profound impact on both her and her crew. In light of this and the realization that we lack a ship with sufficient equipment for this mission, Captain Siri'Kortel of the Migrant Fleet Marines has made a personal request of the Admiralty Board. After much deliberation, we have agreed to let her make this request to you."

Siri then looked to her crew members to her left and nodded. Seeming to understand, they nodded back. This was likewise done to her crew members on her right, and the also nodded in turn. After that, she stepped forward from the line to stand just in front of Kevin and Ralik.

"We humbly request that, you, Captain Kevin Folner and Ralik Dolannus, allow me and my remaining crew to accompany you on the Kellius. We realize our destinations are similar and our goals, mutual."

Kevin and Ralik looked to each other in thought, and the volume of the murmuring crowd stepped up a few decibels. The general emotion of the masses was not of insult or anger, but of interest and anxiousness. There was a level of respect in the air just on the basis of the request that was just made. It was clear to Kevin that this sort of thing was a serious matter to the quarians. One that was not done very often, if at all.

"You have already done much for our people, Kevin," the admiral continued. "There is no obligation."

Kevin couldn't see Ralik's face, but for all his sarcasm, Kevin could tell the salarian was swelling with honored pride just as he was. Ralik didn't even need to nod to Kevin to pass on his side of the answer. They both simply looked back to Siri and the admiral.

"Admiral, captain," Kevin started, standing up straight. "We would be honored to have the Migrant Fleet Marines aboard. The Kellius stands ready to accept."

Siri seemed to loosen just a bit, as if letting go of a held breath. "Captain Folner, I thank you from the bottom of my stony heart."

"On behalf of the Admiralty Board and the quarian race, I thank you, Captain Folner," Han said.

"On one condition," Kevin suddenly interrupted.

The crowd fell silent, expecting some sort of harsh request in return.

"Captain Siri'Kortel remains captain. I'm not much for captain material, much less one with subordinates," Kevin stated.

Siri looked up to the admiral and raised her shoulders. Once again the crowd was abuzz with hushed conversations.

"Your request is humbling, and it will be done," the Admiral replied with a nod. "Captain Siri'Kortel of the Migrant Fleet Marines, you and your crew are no longer vas Del'Forverna. You are hereby recognized as vas Kellius. While we cannot make the Kellius a vessel of the Migrant Fleet by quarian law, we _can_ consider it a military attachment to the flotilla. You will be free to come and go as you please."

"Thank you, admiral," Kevin said.

"No. Thank _you, _Kevin. Now on another subject. . . While this is a most unusual development, there is more."

This time it was Siri's turn to look back at the admiral, confused.

"The other admirals reminded me of something stuffed deep in the pages of history – a few years before we were driven from our homeworld. We did many things throughout the galaxy then, though our influence was not widespread. Often times we were faced with missions deemed impossible by conventional standards, just as we are today. An old admiral and brilliant strategist, Thal'Norus vas Jordashal, conceived the idea of specialized teams of our own, sent off to accomplish these objectives however they could. They were teams not officially recognized by quarian society, since often times their missions clashed with the other inhabitants of the galaxy but were fully supported behind closed doors. This may sound familiar – they were not unlike the Citadel's precious Spectres, but team based rather than lone soldiers and not nearly as widely known.

"They were the Xelvas'taersh, otherwise known as the Thal'Norus Shadowstrike squads. Unfortunately, the whole program fell to pieces during the geth rebellion, and Thal'Norus went down with his ship while covering some of the last escaping quarian vessels as we took to the stars.

"'Why are you telling us this?', you all might be asking. I bring this brief history lesson to light because the Admiralty Board expressed interest in reviving the program to a limited state. You nine are setting out to do the very things that the Xelvas'taersh were tasked with before their fall. We found it fitting that we begin that revival with a Shadowstrike squad of our own. Make no mistake, whether you are quarian or not, you are all a team now. While this may be no better than words at the moment, I can say that you nine are the first Xelvas'taersh in over three hundred years.

"I. . . I really don't know what to say to this, admiral. I'm stunned," Siri responded, taken aback by the significance she just had dropped on her head.

"We will work out the details later, captain," the admiral continued. "As for now, I can finally conclude this series of announcements and, apparently, history lessons and textbook sized speeches. I thank you all for coming. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai," the resounding response half-excitedly came from all around.

Kevin, Ralik, Siri and her crew all just sort of stood there in the middle of the mini amphitheater, staring at one another. They were silent, as there was a lot of noise coming from the dispersing crowd which seemed to have nearly doubled in size since the meeting began. When the heightened noise pollution subsided, Kevin took the liberty of speaking first.

"So. Our doom. I hear it's a nice place this time of year. Why don't we all head there together?"

Chuckles were had, bringing Kevin's ability to tell a joke up from the trenches.

"This is going to be a very interesting mission," Kar said, nearly giddy with excitement.

Bela, on the other hand, _was_ giddy with excitement."This is _awesome_!" Bela shouted. "One of my ancestors was Xelvas'taersh! I used to get told stories of suave quarians quick on the trigger and bold when facing impossible odds when I was a kid. Who knew I'd get to be one?"

"Sounds like we have some big suits to fill," Tyr commented, proud of his involvement in all this.

"Siri'Kortel vas Kellius, captain of the first Thal'Norus Shadowstrike squad in three hundred years. Has a nice ring to it," Riik said, patting his captain on the back.

"Oh, stow it," Siri said with a chuckle. "I already don't know how to deal with this. You're just making it worse."

"They certainly threw a lot at us all at once," Arla commented, agreeing with her captain. "Still trying to take it all in."

"I'm going to need to update my databases. I had no data on the Xelvas'taersh. Not surprising, given their nature and short lived existence," Tosh analytically noted.

At this point, the crowd was still working to fully disperse back to their daily lives aboard the Neema. As people worked to move away from the previously over-crowded area, admiral Han'Gerrel stepped through to flow of quarians to approach the crew. He seemed a bit more relaxed now that his obligatory speeches were over and more anxious to talk with Siri and her team. As he approached, several of the team members had gotten caught in conversations with other passers by, drawing them away for a moment.

"Well spoken, admiral," Kevin noted over the hustle and bustle. "For someone who isn't much of a public speaker, you certainly had a lot to say."

"That long winded, was I? I knew I should have prepared notes to keep my points in line," the admiral said.

"Nonsense. You were very informative," Siri replied. "I think anyone who heard all that knows the stakes now, which isn't something easily conveyed."

"There is still a lot to talk about, Siri. Off of the podium, of course," Han said casually.

"What about?" Siri asked.

"The matter of preparation. In the past, Xelvas'taersh were granted fresh tech, weapons and armor, along with a new ship or serious upgrades. Unfortunately, we cannot provide these things anymore."

"Understandable," Kevin responded. "We did grab a bunch of new tech from the Cerberus soldiers that boarded our ship, though, so individually we should be set in that regard."

"Yes, Siri's report told me as much," Han said as he brought a hand to his helmet's chin in thought. "Perhaps in the future we can better adapt this program to being able to provide for new teams, but it seems unlikely in our current state. Though now that I think about it, you've given me an idea, Kevin."

"Oh?" Kevin wondered aloud.

"My engineers at the docks have been buzzing about the tech from the ship that your secondary team brought in. That Cerberus vessel. From what I understand, the Kellius lacks a GARDIAN laser grid, which the other ship just so happens to have. I can have several of my best engineers transfer the hardware to your ship in place of an upgrade. It would take a few days to integrate the systems, but you'll at least have a better defense than just a mass accelerator. Keelah knows you all will need it more than we do."

"We would greatly appreciate that, admiral," Siri thanked with a bow of her head.

"Yes, that would a huge help," Kevin appreciatively added. "It probably won't take a few days, though. Your techs might not know this, but it seems the Kellius already has the hardpoints and software to control and interface with the GARDIAN grid. It just lacks the actual hardware for some reason."

"Well then in that case, give us about twelve hours or so and we can get the guns transferred over. I'll have them start right away."

"Permission to oversee the ship prep, admiral," Siri piped in excitedly.

"Permission granted, Siri," the admiral responded lightheartedly. "Keep those brilliant kids in line for me. See if you can get someone to move the ship to maintenance bay six."

"Thank you, admiral. It'll be done before you know it. Tosh'Rolush, you're with me. You have more knowledge of the Kellius' systems than the others. I'll need your help with integration. Kar'Welkas, you too. I'll need you to move the ship to another bay."

Tosh spun around, hearing his captain call his name despite the fact that he was in the middle of a conversation with someone else.

"Yes, captain. Right away," Tosh replied, using gestures to apologize to the quarian he was chatting with.

Kar showed up from among the crowds the moment his name was called and saluted his captain and the admiral. "Yes ma'am!"

Siri, Kar and Tosh then headed out of the courtyard back towards the ship, eventually fading into the flowing motion of busy quarian crowds.

"I know I'm in absolutely no position to request anything, admiral, least of all from you, but. . ." Kevin started.

"Spit it out, boy. Don't hesitate to ask something of me, especially now."

"Well, we used up a good portion of our fuel heading out there and coming back, and we're not quite sure how much we will need to reach the relay. We have extra stock, but I figured we would need all that for when we get beyond the relay."

"Say no more, Kevin. I'll probably have to fight with a few people over this, but I'm sure I can provide a few kilos of fuel. You're doing the entire quarian people a great service, and it's not in our nature to deny something so crucial to our own."

"Much appreciated, admiral. To be honest, I'm a bit humbled by your generosity in your constant and fragile state of need."

"Truth be told, that's exactly what we're in – a fragile state. But we don't let our situation define us as _who_ we are, it just circumstantially defines _what _we are. Anyways, I was pleased to hear that you made such good impressions with the team. As I mentioned before, I know some of them personally, and can imagine getting on their good side wasn't easy."

"How do you know some of them?" Kevin genuinely asked as they both started to take a walk around the courtyard.

"Well, Siri'Kortel was born and grew up here on the Neema. She had a strong heart for her people, but had high emotional barriers back then, and from what I hear, I don't think things have changed much. Her clan and my clan had always been friends, so we kept in contact regarding things that happened with our families."

"That's interesting. I didn't know that," Kevin responded with a nod.

"Tosh'Rolush transferred here after his pilgrimage, and as you know, he was the one who intercepted the leaked data that got us here in the first place. Others like Arla'Tavval, Riik'Votis and Kar'Welkas undertook marine training on the Neema."

"Is the Neema the de facto marine training grounds for the flotilla?" Kevin curiously asked.

"It's one of several. Not all the ships in the fleet have the space, equipment or personnel to house Migrant Fleet Marine training grounds, so any quarian interested in enlisting after their pilgrimage transfers to a ship that can. There they undergo the training, graduate into the service and get placed on missions or a ship to serve on."

"Is that why the Migrant Fleet Marines never say their ship names when introducing themselves?"

"That's a strict formality we enforce. Though we fully encourage the diversity of the ships, we need to make sure that each marine recognizes that while they are immediately responsible for the ship they are stationed on, the Migrant Fleet Marines as a whole has a responsibility to protect the entire flotilla. In short, their duties fall to their station ship first and the rest of the fleet second. They are Migrant Fleet Marines, not Neema Marines or Rayya Marines."

"Makes sense. Gives them a sense of unity, despite working in separate groups."

The admiral nodded. "Anyways, I didn't know the marine trainees as well as I did Tosh or Siri, but I knew Arla'Tavval and Riik'Votis were particularly tough nuts to crack. The very fact that they aren't at your throat is impressive."

"Yeah, we've worked that out. Why are they like that, anyways?"

"Their personal reasoning is theirs to tell you about, but since you will be working closely with them in the long mission ahead of you, I'll let you in on what I discovered from their time here in training. Riik is just over-sensitive about how his people are treated, and as such, tended to automatically defer to insensitivity towards non-quarians. Something must have happened to him on his pilgrimage. Arla'Tavval has always had pride issues since her pilgrimage and is flat out impossible to impress or keep the attention of. In fact, the only person I can remember that she actively listened to was the only person that was able to put her down, physicially."

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked as they stopped to sit on a bench near the patch of fauna.

"Arla'Tavval was one of the best trainees I had seen in a long time. She was devoted, headstrong and an extremely good fighter. I'm sure you've at least _heard_ of her hand-to-hand combat expertise, most likely from her."

". . . Yes. Yes I have."

"Well, that and marksmanship were her studies for off-fleet missions. She was such a good fighter that the only person who could best her was her instructor. I think his name was Yolis'Qoln. He was the only person she ever genuinely listened to regarding anything other than orders. I can remember getting messages from him that reported various successes of his trainees." The admiral laughed. "He stated that Arla was getting 'too attached for one on one training to continue'."

"So what you're saying is that Arla had a crush on this guy?" Kevin asked, wary.

"That's the way I saw it. I denied his training ship transfer request, since he was the only one getting through to her. After she graduated and moved on, he described her as the type of woman to be attracted to superior physical prowess and the ability to get the job done. He was worried that she might not want to move on when she graduated. From what I recall, he said good bye to her with a duel and lost. He was in the medical bay for a week."

"Is that so? Sounds like she doesn't mess around. As long as she's on my side, that's the kind of marine I'd like with me out in the field."

"Just don't challenge her to a duel. She does it all the time, from what I hear. She's good in a fight and will probably leave you on the floor bleeding. I remember she often lost sight of the idea of 'sportsmanlike conduct'." The admiral laughed again at his own train of thought. "Heck, if you ended up winning, she might even _like_ you. Not enough of a cause to try, I say."

Kevin could put two and two together. "Uh. Let's say, _hypothetically_, that I did in fact end up getting into a duel with her."

"Then I'd be surprised to see you in such good condition. Like I said, she didn't fully grasp the concept of knowing when to stop."

"And let's say, _hypothetically_, that I won the duel."

"Wait, come again?" the admiral said, his tone changing to that of an intrigued one.

"Okay, no more beating around the bush," Kevin said, indicating that he wasn't trying to make up a story. "She challenged me to a duel on our trip back, out of hubris."

"And you _won_?"

"I won."

Han'Gerrel paused for a moment in thought while visor-masked stares met Kevin. ". . . Oh boy."

He seemed ready to make further statements, but they were interrupted by a quarian that stepped up to them.

"Excuse me, admiral, but Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib would like to speak with you up in the bridge."

Han'Gerrel sighed and shook his head. "And here I thought shutting off my comms for the time being would allow me to avoid him until he left. Alright, I'm on my way." Han'Gerrel stood from the bench they were sitting on and turned back to Kevin. "It was a pleasure chatting with you, Kevin. I trust you will work hard with the rest of the team?"

"You can bet on that, admiral," Kevin confidently stated.

"Good. I look forward to hearing the report from all of you when you get back."

Kevin nodded to the admiral and Han'Gerrel left in the company of his messenger. The quarian-masked human sat back on the bench thinking about the conversation they just had, and the potential implications. He wondered if that was why Arla was acting so strangely after they slaughtered the Cerberus operatives, but there were too many factors there for that to be the case. She hadn't shown any real attraction to him even after he did put her on the floor back during the duel, so that was likely just her trying to emotionally deal with close range killing of non-synthetics.

Why was he even thinking this? He wasn't quarian. To think any of them had any degree of real attraction to him was silly, but he couldn't deny the circumstances. Normally he wouldn't even think that quarians could potentially be attracted to other species due to how different their world was, but. . .

This was all Nor's fault. She was the first and only one to ever bring these thoughts to mind, and now because of her, he found himself thinking ridiculously again. She was probably looking down on him from wherever her version of heaven was, laughing. Kevin just shook a fist in the air.

"Just wait, Nor. I'll get you back for this," Kevin said to himself as he settled back into the bench. "I can't live forever, you know."


	18. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17**_

"How long have you had the suit on?"

"Are you going to take it off eventually?"

"How did you get the suit in the first place?"

"Have you tried the neural stimulators yet?"

"Don't you have clan colors to add?"

Over the next several hours following Kevin's conversation with admiral Han'Gerrel, Kevin was left alone and bombarded by questions coming from small mobs of quarians. The questions they had were genuine and curious, and they mostly pertained to Kevin's situation and the details regarding his experiences with the environmental suit. Unfortunately, most of these questions seemed repetitive and increasingly inconsequential to him, particularly because he was the one all the questions fell onto despite their changing origins. Sometimes he would encounter a few quarians within a group that differed in that they took Siri's previous advice to heart and treated him like one of them. In those cases he was able to have more natural conversations, and even a laugh here or there.

He couldn't blame them for their behavior on a whole. He would have been just as excited if he found out that one of another species as different as his was to the quarians decided to take up his unique perspective, regardless of how they previously perceived it. Even still, he still felt uncomfortable. The reaction from the masses was a much more positive one, but he was still the center of attention. To him, it didn't matter whether the general emotion of the surrounding crowd was positive or negative – he still felt exposed when he was the focus. Luckily, a familiar face broke through the assemblage and stood by his side.

"Come to ask me questions too, Tyr?" Kevin asked, weary of the constant inquiries.

"Actually, I thought you could use a hand," Tyr said, amused. "Private Rolush should be the one up here since he's the one who put you in the suit, but he's busy with more important matters right now."

"It's about time," Kevin said, not really as irritated as he sounded. "I was starting to feel awfully abandoned over here since all you guys went to chat with people."

Tyr sat next to Kevin on the bench the human had been glued to since he was left alone and looked upon the somewhat thinner company of quarian bodies. And not a moment to soon. Within minutes, another group who had heard about the strangeness of a human in a quarian environmental suit entered the room and began a quick visual search of the room. Their search only lasted a few minutes before they found Kevin, almost as though they had been told exactly what to look for. Kevin lightly slapped the side Tyr's closest knee with the back of his hand to gain his attention and then subtly pointed at the oncoming curious bunch.

"Show time," Kevin quietly said.

When the group arrived, the slew of questions started the same way that the other sessions did, with one question common across _all_ the groups that had come before this one.

"Are you Kevin'Folner vas Kellius?" they asked.

"Yes, that is me. What can I do for you?" Kevin did his best to keep a pleasant composure. It wasn't their fault that they happened to come after several others asking the same things. He just wished that they'd tell each other what they asked him before they sent more his way.

"Well," said one of the male quarians up front, "we heard about your situation and we're curious about what you had been through before you got here. You know, how you got into the suit to begin with."

Kevin grit his teeth from hearing that question for the umpteenth time. It was moments like this that the obscuring helmet he wore was more of a blessing than a curse; it gave him one heck of a poker face. There was a pleasant change to the situation from the last fifteen or so, though, and this became apparent when Tyr began to answer_ for_ him.

"I believe I can help you with that. After this man saved us from some forsaken white planet and from the geth, we got ourselves into a situation where the atmosphere of our ship started venting out of our control. Kevin here didn't have a suit at the time, and the one he _did_ have wasn't going to cut it against hard vacuum. So, we improvised. Tosh'Rolush, Ralik Dolannus and I pulled a stored suit normally used for repairs and fit him into it while he was unconscious. It was a close call, but we got it done."

The small crowd muttered amongst themselves. It seemed they were particularly interested in the fact that Kevin didn't make the decision to get into the suit. Perhaps it allayed their fears about a human simply deciding to get into it without any quarian opinion. After that, it was the usual onslaught of curiosity. Kevin was grateful to Tyr for showing up, as it made the series of questions seem less like a burden.

After that group was satisfied with the answers they had been given, they turned and headed back into the depths of the Neema, buzzing to each other about the interesting facts they had just learned. Kevin laid back into the bench once again and let free a sigh of relief. Tyr looked over to Kevin and tilted his head forward.

"Was a questionnaire really _that_ taxing?" Tyr asked.

"I'm just not used to being put in the spotlight, that's all. It's an occupational hazard I tend to avoid. Put that on top of the fact that I had already done this song and dance at least fifteen times by now. . ."

"Ah yes. Subtlety is certainly hard to achieve when everyone's looking at you," Tyr agreed.

"I'm trying my best not to harbor any hard feelings, but. . ."

"No worries, Kevin, I understand. I think it's time we started getting back to the Kellius anyways. We need to formulate a new strategical plan. There are a lot of new factors to consider."

"You read my mind, Tyr," Kevin said, relieved.

"Let me just find the others and we'll head back. Chances are that some of us will end up helping the engineers mount the new guns to get it to move along faster, but I think they're still working to take them off of the old Cerberus vessel. Depends on the captain's mood, I suppose."

Kevin nodded to Tyr and the quarian headed off towards a few clustered people near the center of the room. Kevin had been ready to head back for a while now, but he was alone up until this point. It would have been counter-productive to try and find maintenance bay six without a guide, both because he wasn't cleared to be walking through the whole ship and because he couldn't read the quarian directional signs. He would have ended up lost _and_ in trouble.

The first to show up next to Kevin from Tyr's calls for regrouping was Arla. She said nothing to him and leaned against the wall next to the bench with her arms crossed. Kevin wasn't letting her off the hook that easily, though.

"You what this means?" Kevin asked, not looking in her direction.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Arla finally responded. "What?"

"This means we can continue training each other. We have plenty of time now."

She didn't respond. His prodding wasn't sharp enough.

"Oh come on," Kevin prodded. "We just started getting the hang of everything. We can just pick up where we left off."

"Right, because it was so simple to begin with," Arla coldly stated while turning her head away. "We will see."

Kevin raised a brow. That was the Arla he knew, for better or for worse. Mostly the latter, in his opinion.

The next familiar suit to appear was Bela, followed shortly by Riik and Tyr. Before any of them had the chance to say anything, Kevin asked a question that had been nagging at him in the back of his mind for an hour or so now.

"Where's Ralik?"

"He's with the captain," Bela pointed out. "Apparently they caught your salarian friend wandering about after the meeting, so she asked for his help with ship prep to keep him out of trouble."

"Good one, Ralik," Kevin stated to himself.

"Shall we head back, then?" Tyr asked the group.

Everyone responded with a nod. Kevin stood up from his seat on the bench and followed the crew out of the courtyard and back into the crowded room beyond. They carefully weaved their way through the moving traffic with ease and Kevin followed closely in their wake to avoid getting separated. On their way to the bay that now held the Kellius, he noticed that they were heading further back into the tail of the ship. They passed the hallway that contained the docking cradle where he entered several hours back and proceeded to step up to the large closed double doors further down. Tyr pressed on a panel to the side of the doorway and the two slabs of metal split diagonally down the center and sunk into the walls.

Inside the doors, the path was far less crowded with bodies. The hallway down the tail of the ship was larger than the one outside the double doors both in width and height, but didn't compare at all to the courtyard. After a small junction or two, the hallway opened up into a very long room whose open space almost, but no quite rivaled that of the courtyard. Even though the room was wide, tall and ran quite a distance before meeting another wall, it completely lacked the tranquil motion that the courtyard boasted. Even more, though the number of bodies moving around was half that of the other rooms, the description of 'busy' served to be an understatement.

The floorspace, for example, was littered with equipment, crates and other more industrial grade things than what he had seen so far. Kevin likened it to a distribution center. Large metal crates and cylinders were the main objects being moved, and anything being moved had a quarian behind it. Whether it was bulky mechanical suits tailored to moving several objects at once, or crane-like claws that gripped huge collections of freight all at once. Nothing was automated back here. No mechs for loading gear, no stocking cranes without drivers. . . Even the whole ship's inventory was closely monitored by quarians rather than just scanned and checked in.

Kevin began to realize just how much he took automated systems for granted. From what he gathered, the quarians didn't have automation because of their mistakes with the geth. They didn't trust any machinery that could move on it's own, especially in their own home. He started playing out a simple conversation in his head with someone such as himself who was used to automated mechanics and the quarian situation. _Why wouldn't you automate a freight crane? It's just a crane._ Kevin figured that's what the quarians thought about the geth before their revolt, too. Now they play it safe. He didn't blame them.

His group took a left just inside and started up some stairs that led to a catwalk that ran down the left wall of the long room, above all the carefully controlled action at floor level.

"What's this room for?" Kevin asked, wanting an answer from someone who knew better. "Aside from the obvious."

"This is what we call disassembly," Tyr replied, his voice raised to overpower the ambient noise from all the shifting equipment and banging of crates. "All the freight we receive from other ships gets loaded and stored elsewhere, but this is where it all moves to when they need to prepare it to be used by the residents of the ship. The Neema isn't a liveship, so as you can imagine, they are constantly getting shipments of food in to replace what comes through here to be consumed."

"Food, medical supplies, anything that isn't generated on the Neema has to pass through disassembly," Riik mentioned. "It serves as both an inventory checkpoint as well as a place to disassemble the shipping crates to prep the goods for the public."

Kevin nodded to indicate his understanding of the information he was absorbing as they passed the entrance to one of several cranes. It looked to him like individual crates taken off of their bulk load were locked onto small hovering platforms to be moved by mechanically unaided workers or gathered by other power equipment. He noticed that on the floor level there were several doors on the left and right sides of the elongated room where these individual crates were pushed into, probably to be opened up and have their goods unpacked so they can be taken to where they need to be.

As they neared the other end of the busy room, they came across a set of stairs leading back down to floor level. Instead, however, Kevin's group took another left to head up some stairs in the wall. There was a clearly marked sign above the stairs written in quarian, but no matter how long Kevin stared at it, he couldn't read it.

"It says 'maintenance bays four, five and six," Bela whispered to him.

Kevin nodded. "I take it one, two and three are on the port side?" Bela nodded back in response.

Kevin and the others climbed up the stairs to the deck above them. Stairs, not an elevator. He had to wonder if the stairs were part of the original design of this old clunker of a ship or if the quarians simply favored them across the board because stairs only need a fraction of the maintenance that elevators did, even in this modern age. The fewer things that contributed to an old ship's upkeep, the better.

At the top of the short climb, they stepped out into a small hallway that was hardly populated. Down on their left further towards the aft of the long tail of the ship and where they were headed, the hallway opened up some. There was a window on the left side of the hallway that allowed them to view what was in this particular maintenance bay. This one happened to be bay six, and Kevin saw his ship being worked on. What surprised him, though, was that the 'maintenance bay' was actually external to the Neema. Docking rigs and cradles held the ship firmly in place with its nose against the side of the quarian ship while long, sturdy beams with a variety of purposes jutted out perpendicular to the side of the Neema. Quarians in their usual every day environmental suits were hopping about the hull of the Kellius, wearing small propulsion packs for directional control in the perfect free-fall of empty space. They were tethered to the long beams by thick but flexible wires in case one of them fell away from the ship.

They were already working on getting the second GARDIAN laser tower installed on the Kellius, and it was the second of two hardpoints now exposed on the top of the frigate. A huge claw mounted to one of the thicker and lower beams gripped tightly onto the third laser tower, slowly and carefully positioning it under the Kellius. Kevin surmised that it was setting up the hardware so that when the crews installing the pieces on the top of the ship were done they could move right onto the one underneath.

Kevin had never seen exactly where the hardpoints were located. They were covered by hull armor that matched the rest of the exterior. Those circular hunks of plated metal were each now attached to sets of rails that he could swear weren't there before. Kevin had seen this sort of setup before, however. When they weren't being used, the GARDIAN laser towers would sink into the hull of the ship where the ablative armor slabs were housed to conceal their existence. Upon activation, the cover would pop up and quickly slide out of the way so that the towers could rise to their functioning form. Nice.

Now that he could get a better idea of exactly where on the ship the grid towers would be, he was able to get a better sense of how he could use them. They were positioned on the port and starboard sides of the Kellius, equidistant from the center between them and about halfway down the length. Two were on the top side, and the other two looked to be set directly under the first two. This pleased Kevin, as this meant that he would have a bare minimum of two towers covering every angle around them. He could have all four tracking a target directly in front or behind the Kellius as well, minding the thrusters. This meant that they could take the classic frigate military maneuver of circle-strafing a target and put it into practice. Finally, they could take on other frigate sized ships in dogfights.

Below them, Kevin could see that the loading ramp on the Kellius was open and that the gap was filled by a long umbilical corridor wide enough to cover the entire rampway. Likewise, another corridor coming from the same beam that the gun toting claw was mounted on was latched onto the airlock of the frigate – the entrance of which was down the hall a little further and behind another door. As they took a left into that door and headed down the beam to where the airlock corridor was, Bela contacted her superior.

"Captain Kortel, we're back and heading into the airlock."

_"I'm in the VI room with Rolush at the moment. Meet me in the briefing room,"_ the captain replied.

"Understood," Bela said before shutting her comms down.

Down the corridor they went, pausing only to let the airlock's decontamination process complete. Inside, the headed into the briefing room just in time to see Siri step in. She moved with purpose and curled a finger at Bela. She didn't stop walking, but she did acknowledge everyone's presence with a nod.

"Merni, with me. I need your ship weapons experience to help calibrate the new grid."

"Yes ma'am," Bela said, slightly surprised at the urgency in the captain's voice.

Without another word, Siri and Bela filed out of the ship via airlock.

"What was all that about?" Kevin asked, also taken aback by Siri's behavior.

"She's. . . a bit of an overachiever when it comes to doing things around the flotilla," Riik mentioned.

"She's eager to get back out and continue the mission," Tyr said. "It may not look like it, but she's still taking the loss of her crew on that planet pretty hard. It's helping her keep her mind occupied, and gives her something to look forward to."

Kevin didn't reply, but he still thought about that. He hadn't seen in Siri what Tyr did, but he didn't know her nearly as long as the others. She certainly did a good job of hiding it since she needed that moment after they left the white washed planet. He admired her ability to hold such a steel-firm grip on her emotions, but he suspected that a portion of it had to do with her face being hidden and his inability to comprehensibly read quarian body language.

"I'm going to see if the captain needs my help anywhere," Tyr said, flicking a large thumb towards the airlock.

"Right behind you," Arla said.

"Third," Riik followed.

"I think I'm just going to get in the way," Kevin noted, clearly realizing that he had no talent for weapons installation or large scale ship preparation. "I'll be in the master quarters for now. Hit me up on the comm if you guys need me."

Tyr nodded and left with Arla and Riik.

Kevin turned back towards the aft of the ship and started for the master quarters. He heard the quarians working on the hull as thuds and bangs reverberated throughout the hallway. He figured it was going to be noisy as long as they worked, so it didn't really bother him. In fact, it only took a few minutes for him to block out the noise.

Almost relieved to be in his own quarters again, Kevin slumped into the chair in front of his desk terminal. Despite the excitement of getting to see the inside of the quarian fleet, and moreso the inside of a quarian _vessel_, he was happy to be back behind familiar closed doors. Here he wasn't under someone's ever-watching eyes. Not anymore, at least. After one final sigh, Kevin sat up and went to reach for his data storage device only to find that it wasn't there.

He had forgotten what he did with it.

Kevin sat back into the chair again. As usual, this frustrated him but there was a lot more to it. That device was his life. It was as important to him as his blade, but he carried it around with him less for fear of losing it. It was triple encrypted with an algorithm that he and Tarsil put together, so it would be a long time before anyone was able to crack it without his password or the Kellius. But that wasn't what bothered him. If he kept on forgetting such important and personal things, it wouldn't be long before he forgot how to shoot a gun as well. He was well aware of the standard grade of neural decay associated with biotics, but it usually happened at a much slower rate. Each time he forgot something, whether it was actually associated with this neural issue or not, Kevin felt he was taking one step closer to total neural breakdown and becoming something not unlike a breathing vegetable. To face one's own loss of conscious thought, to foresee his own mind trickling away into the abyss of disassociation and cognitive collapse – that was one of the few things in the galaxy that scared the everliving piss out of him.

Thankfully, Kevin was able to get his train of thought back to matters at hand. His storage device – where could he have left it? The only two logical places he could have left it were here at the terminal and in the entertainment room hooked up to the jockey equipment. He then spun a new, less pleasant idea in his mind. If the device was plugged in when The Illusive Man made contact with the Kellius, does that mean he could have scoured the data, removed certain crucial files or even worse: purged it? He made sure to remove anything he uploaded to the ship that wasn't music, but if the flash storage was plugged in, anyone with access to the ship's systems could see it all. Kevin was up and out of his chair in the same instant.

He used the entertainment room's secondary and normally locked door – the one directly connecting the master quarters and Club Kellius. He stepped inside opposite the normal entrance and hurried over to the room's nearly out of place podium. He looked at the slot where it normally protruded while plugged in, but it was not there. The feeling of relief washed over him as he realized that it at the very least wasn't plugged in when The Illusive Man contacted the ship. There was still the matter of where it was _now_, however_._ Out of instinct, he looked around his immediate area and on the floor. He spotted it laying in one of the corners of the jockey station floor. Once again, relief. No one had been into the room since then, so it probably fell onto the floor when the ship rocked from the attacks made by the Cerberus hunter-seeker.

But why was it here? He racked his brain. The last time it was used was. . . When Arla was perusing through his music library before their training session. She must have unplugged it after she shut the music down and set it on the equipment's counter. He remembered! If only it had been that easy to remember where his helmet was. Kevin closed his fist around the small device and headed back into his master quarters through the still open door. As he stepped back into his room, the door shut behind him on it's own.

Thinking it now safer to plug it in than it had been the last few times he accessed it, he inserted the device's connection end into the terminal on his desk as he sat down. He now had a new view on the data he repeatedly checked and updated with comments that he hadn't had before. He knew that the project that bore him, _this project_, was Cerberus-led. Unfortunately, there was no real evidence as far as he could remember from the logs of just how much influence the human black ops group had on such a project. It didn't even sound like The Illusive Man was involved at all except for maybe thinking it up and getting it started. But that was only how it _seemed_, and it was obvious that The Illusive Man was a long time expert on making things seem ways they actually weren't.

Kevin brought up the device on the terminal and accessed the files. As he navigated the file structure, his focus hovered over the directory that contained the small collection of files locked with what was identified as a Cerberus-originated cipher. The cipher itself was rooted into the very code of the files in question and Kevin didn't know anyone he could trust – even Tarsil – that had a means of cracking it.

_ What about Tosh?_ he suddenly found himself thinking. Tosh was a programming savant in some ways. He had to be if he was able to reverse engineer the black box sectors in the VI to allow himself access to the hunter-seeker's internal near-critical systems. Next time he had a moment with Tosh, he would have to find out whether or not the quarian trusted him now. If he did, Kevin would ask if he could do it. For now, though, he settled on picking up another audio log to satisfy his reconnection with the information stored within. It felt like ages since he last listened, even in knowing that it had only really been just a few days. He picked out the one he had last listened to and he played the one after it.

"Log Seventy-three, time reference – one week following refresher day. Allison keeps attempting to reassure me that our initial hypothesis about the slowing of the children's neurological development is still only speculation, but the results we have been gathering from our new scan equipment says otherwise. Brain activity is only now shifting focus to the proper regions, and extra attention is always peripherally needed in order to keep the enhanced nervous system in check. We may need another few weeks to get a proper estimate, but initial readings suggest that the children are as far as a full month behind normal development schedules of other biotic children. I do my best to be optimistic around the staff, but in truth. . . I think the primary phase of this project may go on for a little more than a few years. McRoilie out."

Kevin raised a brow. He never remembered being a kid with any sort of hampered learning curve. As far as he could actually remember, he was on par with the other children at the Grissom Academy. He typed in a quick comment and the denotation of the first name of the staff to be mentioned: Allison. Right away he was on to the next file.

"Log Seventy-something. Time reference – nearly a month since the initial development hypothesis was established. Well, one of my colleagues was right, and I owe her a bottle of wine. It seems our fears for the cognitive development of the children were unfounded. Not more than a day ago, our daily readings registered brain activity on par with and _exceeding_ that of other like-aged biotic children. It was a subtle change, but after reviewing several weeks worth of scan data back to back, I was able to see it lead up to this point. An easy way to describe it is this: A classic adage for humanity's brain potential states that we only use ten percent of our brains at any given time. These children, then, are using fifteen percent, rather than ten. Their physical brain structure has adapted at unfathomable speeds to deal with the extra load of the enhanced nervous system, which I will now call ENS from here on out. They seem to be developing cognitively as well as physically as normally as any other child, biotic or not.

"In fact, we are seeing a development cycle more stable than that of traditional biotic children. We suspect that the difference lies in the need for a biotic amplifier in standard cases. One theory is that no matter how well wired a biotic amp is to seem natural, the hard fact remains that it is recognized as foreign by the body and is treated as a gateway to the element zero deposits. The lack of an amp cuts out the middle man in a sense, and allows the brain direct and absolute access and development with the eezo nodules. Under normal circumstances, the resulting brain interactivity directly to the deposits would be far too weak to establish any usable mass effect field. This only serves to remind me why we've worked so hard and made these kids suffer through the ENS. Without it, all this would be moot. McRoilie out."

Kevin had to smile to himself. Even though he was only a pawn in a much larger game, This McRoilie guy really enjoyed his pawn-ish position. There was so much excitement in his voice when he discussed new developments, and so much worry when he outlined major causes for concern. He was honestly passionate about his work, not just someone assigned a job. Maybe that's why The Illusive Man picked him for the team.

Right in the middle of Kevin's pondering, Tyr's voice and a mixture of mechanical background noises blared into his ears, shattering his temporary mental immunity to all the noise from the installation of the guns.

"Kevin, you should come down to the cargo hold. You'll want to see this."

Intrigued by Tyr's enigmatic proposal, Kevin responded. "Be right there."

Kevin closed everything on the terminal and removed his storage device. He was only now taking notice of the ridiculous number of pockets and built in storage pouches on the environmental suit. Fitting for an entire species of technological pack rats to have as many places to hold stuff on their person as possible without it getting in the way. He personally could only figure a few ways that he could use them, and most of those involved extra thermal clips or new ways to holster his knife. He settled on placing his data storage in one of the pockets on the side of his left bicep. A little flap closed the opening snugly and prevented accidental loss of its contents. With that, he headed out of the master quarters.

Down at the bottom of the last set of stairs was the door to the cargo bay. He stepped inside, but was unexpectedly confronted by a second door that he didn't even knew existed. The first door closed and the air quickly cycled. It then occurred to Kevin that this was an on-the-fly airlock whenever the loading ramp was open and not officially docked in a bay. He only had to wait a few extra seconds before the second door opened and he was in the cargo hold.

Kevin looked around the hold. There was a lot more going on than he thought. Quarians running powered suits were lifting and moving various metal crates around, making room for more items that were being carried in from the Neema. He found once again that the quarians had a good sense of organization – the once overcrowded room was now properly and completely organized into clusters and there was still some floorspace left despite there being more in there than there was before. Ship materials were clustered together in one area, food and drink in another (separated down the middle to keep levo and dextro-amino based foods apart), fuel in third, and a couple other clusters he couldn't identify by looking at them. Unfortunately, the cargo hold's acoustics were considerably subpar _before _beingloaded full to bursting and the noise from the loading mech replacements echoed loudly. This explained the horrible background noise when Tyr called him.

Kevin found Tyr near the middle of the room, intently focused on his PDA while occasionally giving directions to the ones carrying the cargo around. He looked up in just enough time to see Kevin approaching him and he lowered the PDA.

"What did you want me to see, Tyr?" Kevin asked, getting right to business.

Without saying a word, Tyr turned around and reached for something behind a crate. When the chief turned back to Kevin, he was holding the breather helmet to the hardsuit he wore before.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kevin said in disdain. "Where was it?"

"One of the loaders found it while setting up cluster space. It was rolling about on the floor in the far corner to the right of the ramp. I wish I had seen it while I was running the inventory check the other day."

Kevin shook his head. The helmet was useless to him in its current state since the suit it went with had its legs forcibly removed. He could get it adapted to fit the second suit in the closet of the master quarters if he wanted, but. . .

Could he do it? Siri made an interesting point when they had arrived on the Neema. He was seeing things from a perspective that no one had before. The perspective of an eternally suited quarian. If he even so much as opened the visor under anything but extreme circumstances, the effect and the experience would be lost. The fact that he hadn't yet garnered a level of respect and even acceptance from the residents, and maybe even Siri's team. Normally he didn't give two craps about what people thought about him, but it was more than just opinions. If he had the helmet adapted and abandoned his current garb for a more comfortable hardsuit, it would be a metaphorical slap in the face to most of his new squadmates. Maybe even paired with a right hook to the gut. Still, the option was there, and he wasn't about to minimize his choices to appease the quarian general public. He decided to hold onto the helmet for the time being.

"Thanks, Tyr."

"Don't know how much use it'll be now that your hardsuit's chopped up. I figured you'd at least want to know where it was hiding when you needed it most."

It then struck Kevin that the quarians, or at least Tyr, didn't know about the second, bulkier hardsuit in the closet in the master quarters. Either one of them went to get it when he was out and is keeping secrets, or Ralik did and just hasn't told them. He'd just let it be for now.

"Speaking of hardsuits," Tyr continued over the clangs and mechanical hisses, "I requisitioned a set of tri-layer ablative armor for your enviro suit. You're a member of the squad now, and you can't go fighting geth with nothing but a shield and a bare suit. Sorry, it's fresh. No battle scars to match your past accomplishments."

"Thanks again, Tyr. I'll put it to good use, don't you worry."

"I certainly hope not. I'd much rather your shields deflected everything close enough to actually hit you. Can't win them all that way, though, so armor's your next best layer of defense. Anyways, they said it'd be ready in a couple hours, so we should have it before we leave. That's assuming the captain doesn't overdo this overseeing thing she's doing and push to prep a ship in record time."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Kevin said.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to have a complete and accurate inventory report for the captain by the time we disembark. She tasked me with this personally, so I've got to make sure it's done right the first time. Can't trust any of these kids here to keep track of _everything._"

"Don't hurt yourself," Kevin lightheartedly jabbed.

Tyr immediately went back to monitoring all the moving items and noting things on his PDA. Kevin turned and headed for the small airlock while staring at the scuffed face of his old breather helmet. It seemed as though it was mocking him, knowing full well that it just happened to be the required item, absent when Kevin's life hung by a thread. While the design on the face made no attempts to simulate any sort of face, Kevin saw it anyways. A smirk. A wink behind the thin visor. How did it even get down here in the first place?

The airlock cycled for a few seconds before granting him passage into the innards of the ship. This time racking his brain did not help him resurface any memories regarding what he did with his helmet prior to all this. It was annoying, but it was also inconsequential. He was still alive, likely to the dismay of the accursed smirking helmet, and he had a new getup that would probably last far longer than his old one with the proper care.

The bangs and clangs of the GARDIAN weapon installations were now louder towards the bottom decks of the ship rather than the upper decks. This was good news to Kevin and he headed for his room once more so that he could relax a bit before he was called again. The rest of the prep still had a few hours to go and Siri hadn't assigned him anything yet. Best to take the moment while he could since he had no idea if he would get any moments to relax until they got back. _If_ they got back. Kevin set the helmet down on his desk next to the terminal and used what little he had learned from Arla's tech lessons to get his omni-tool to turn on the massive vid screen lining the wall between the entrance door and the door to the entertainment room. Surely there were some vids or at least a game or two he could play to relax a bit. He sat down on the long couch and started scrolling through a surprisingly long list of media.


	19. Chapter 18

_**Chapter 18**_

By the time Tyr contacted Kevin over the suit comms in regards to coming back to the Neema for a short shove-off with the admiral, the human found that he had yet to watch a single vid. He literally spent a few hours browsing the media selection already available in the Kellius' database and getting a feel for how it worked. He was so zoned out in such a task that he didn't even notice to lack of bangs and clangs on the hull. Normally he would consider sitting in front of a vid screen that didn't give him target details a gross waste of time, but since all the major areas of the ship were being worked on with tools he'd never even seen before, there was little else to do but exactly that – waste time. He had to enjoy sitting on that long couch sooner or later, lest it be a waste of space in his eyes. He didn't exactly plan on inviting guests up into his quarters, contrary to what Linus Werner probably intended when he was around.

Relieved that there was something to do again, Kevin stretched and shut the media system down. He promptly stood and headed out to the airlock where he expected to meet his new squadmates. Other than the usual pair of marines guarding the exit to the airlock, however, there was no one to be seen. This short lived mystery was soon solved when he spotted them through a window on the Neema outside the airlock hallway out the bridge viewports. They were clustered together, and there were a few others in the windowed hall as well. Kevin huffed at being the last one to the party _again_ and made his way out to the Neema's maintenance bay six entry.

Upon catching up with the rest of the motley crew, he saw why they were all clustered together. Admiral Han'Gerrel was already here talking with them. That guy certainly got around. Said admiral quickly took notice of Kevin and waved him over to join the others.

"Sorry I'm late," Kevin half-heartedly said.

"No worries, kid," stated the admiral. "This is just an informal goodbye meeting, I guess you could say. No big crowds or long-winded announcements."

"Thank God," Kevin said. Everyone laughed.

Han'Gerrel then continued. "Aside from wishing you all well and saying goodbye, I wanted to present something to you all. I contacted what few remaining decedents of the old Xelvas'taersh squads were here on the Neema for some information and I had something made for each of you."

The admiral signaled to a quarian down the hall and he obediently grabbed a case from behind a crate. The young quarian boy, who's suit looked as plain as Kevin's but smaller, carefully kept the wide, flat, metal case horizontal as if he were transporting extremely fragile materials. When he arrived, he popped a clip on the end closest to the marines and it opened with a quick jump, nearly loosing itself from the boy's hands. After a quick balance correction, the young man held it still enough for everyone to get a look.

Inside the case was a set of nine identical medallions. The shape of the well polished chrome on black symbol was unfamiliar to Kevin, but interesting nonetheless. It resembled a T who's center column drastically flared out towards the bottom until it cut off. The left and right 'overhangs' of the T protruded outwards enough to match the flared base at it's widest point, but sharply angled down. About halfway down the symbol, the dropping overhangs angled inward again, coming to a sharp point at a lower forty-five degree angle, as if pointing out at the flaring center column. On the top of the thick shape, dead center between the left and right outcroppings was a long four-sided diamond on it's side. It protruded ever so slightly from the otherwise flat design.

The metal symbol wasn't very large. It was small enough to fit in someone's hand, but big enough to keep the holder from completely closing a fist around it. Attached to each medallion was a long, sturdy-looking strap. It was deep crimson detailed with black swirls and other abstract designs. It was embroidered in such a way that even though there were many individual black designs along the length of it, it was all connected and seemed to flow from one end to the other.

"What are these?" Kar innocently asked.

"These are-" Han'Gerrel started.

"These are the icons the members of Xelvas'taersh wore," Bela pointed out excitedly. "Well, remade, obviously."

"Yes," Han said after a brief chuckle at Bela's enthusiasm. "As far as we know, each Xelvas'taersh member wore one of these on their person while on a mission. Since quarians were the only ones at large who knew their purpose, it served as a easily identifiable yet subtle means to let other quarians know that that individual is probably doing something more important and should be assisted discreetly."

"I imagine that's exaggerated to some extent, but I see where you were going with this, admiral," captain Kortel noted. "Above all, it denoted a level of ever-ready service to the quarian people. They were probably worn like military rank badges or accomplishment medals."

"Close, Siri, but not quite" the admiral replied. "Some old data suggests that the way they were worn was unique to each individual. They weren't 'officially' military, so finding ways to dissuade people who saw the symbols from thinking that became common practice. Being inconsistent with how or where they wore it was the easiest way. Or so the information says."

"Doubt we'll have to worry about that," Riik spat. "Everyone already has their own stigmas about quarians these days."

"True enough," Kevin said. "The only ones who might recognize it would be a rare few older asari. Don't know about you guys, but the only matriarch I've ever seen more than once was the one at one of the Illium bars. Can't think of her name for the life of me. . ."

When Kevin stepped forward with the others to grab his, he realized that the strap was much longer than he thought. Held in a single dangling loop, it was long enough to be held above the head and still touch the floor.

"Wow, that's long," Ralik commented.

"That's so each of you can determine your own unique way to display it," Han'Gerrel explained. "The threads will cauterize together with minimal visual disruption if seared with a cutting laser, so you can make it whatever length you see fit."

"Convenient," Tosh said, already distracted with how he might don his own.

"One last detail. Tyr, the armor pieces you requisitioned were loaded into the bay just a few minutes before I got here. There are also extra pieces if you find yours in disrepair."

Tyr nodded and made a note on his omni-tool to check the bay and inventory it to make sure it ended up where he had designated.

"Well, it seems that time has come," Siri said, half relieved and half heavyhearted.

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" agreed Han. "You kids be safe out there. You'll have better luck getting deeper into geth space with a smaller ship, but I still can't shake off the worry of you getting taken down again."

"Maybe an overly-helpful turian will drop by and pick us up if we do," Kevin joked.

Han'Gerrel laughed, but his somber tone went undisturbed. "I want a full report from _all_ of you upon your return. Understood?"

"Yes sir," everyone replied at once, each signing the unwritten contract to return in one piece.

"And be sure to destroy plenty of synthetics on your way out there," he added.

"Don't worry, admiral," Siri assured, cracking her knuckles. "They have it coming."

Each of the quarians saluted the admiral while Kevin and Ralik used their own race's military salute. It seemed the best way to say goodbye to the wonderfully normal high ranking quarian military man. Goodbye didn't feel right, as if they were admitting that they had no intention of coming back. Han'Gerrel saluted back and started back down the hall with his young companion.

"Well?" Siri said to the squad. "You know what comes next. Back on the ship!"

It was an order, but it was in no way a harsh tone. In fact, Kevin could swear that captain Kortel was beaming with pride and delight right now. A rare moment, to be sure.

"Yes ma'am!" the squad responded as they all simultaneously turned one hundred and eighty degrees to head towards the airlock.

Back on the newly outfitted and restocked Kellius, everyone assembled in the briefing room. The table was still busted up on one side, scarred and charred from the grenade that went off in the Cerberus agent's hand. Kevin figured it would be repaired sooner or later, but he actually liked it this way. It gave the room some character. It made it look a little less like a rich man's conference room and a bit more like a front lines command center. Sure that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it still felt more comfortable. More than enough of the table remained for it to still be usable, so it wasn't exactly a deformed obstacle either.

Siri, Kevin, Ralik and Arla all moved into the bridge at once, nearly crowding the small, glowing room. The Kellius was still held in place in the maintenance bay, but all of the workers and equipment had since vacated the bay. Kevin, Ralik and Siri each looked amongst each other to silently decide who would be the lucky person to bring the ship out of the bay and onto the first Xelvas'taersh mission since the geth rebellions. After a moment of silence, Kevin called out to someone hiding back in the briefing room without turning his head.

"Kar'Welkas! C'mere a minute."

The young marine jogged into the edge of the bridge, not wanting to push passed his superior ranked comrades. "Yes, I'm here. What do you need, Kevin?"

Arla and Ralik, who were between Kevin and Kar, stepped aside to let Kevin walk back to his addressee. Kevin slapped his right hand down on Kar's left shoulder then let it rest there as he guided Kar up front.

"So we've come to an executive decision regarding where your station is going to be. I just want to make sure you're up for it. After all, sitting down in a chair all day staring at helmsman's consoles can be taxing work."

Kevin used his free hand to motion towards the currently empty forward pilot's chair. He couldn't see it, but he was sure that a broad smile crossed Kar's face just then.

"Up for it?" Kar said, not really a question. "You have no idea."

"Then to your station, helmsman Kar'Welkas," ordered the captain. "We have a lot to do, and we can't do it sitting in the maintenance bay."

"Yes ma'am!" Kar said, full of exuberance. He sat down in the pilot's chair, adjusted the seat posture, cracked his six knuckles and went right to work.

Firstly, he sent off the signal to the Neema to disengage the magnetic locks. The ship jostled, then was let free to float on its own. Kar activated the drive core and engines, waited for a quick system check and then began to back out of the bay and into the crowded open space amongst the other flotilla ships. Once a safe minimum distance from the Neema had been achieved, Kar threw on the main thrusters and the Kellius accelerated away from the hulking quarian ship. After a short session of weaving through the mildly dense collection of vessels varying greatly in size, the full freedom of open space was revealed to them. All of this was done with a fluidity that surprised Kevin, and probably Ralik as well.

"Dholen system in the Far Rim, right?" Kar asked.

"That's the one," Kevin replied. He gave Kar another light slap on the shoulder and he turned away from the content new pilot to head into the briefing room.

"Course plotted. First relay is fifteen minutes out."

"Since we used the same data as them to get there, the post-Dholen FTL trajectories and stops are probably in the same place," Siri mentioned to Kar.

"Actually," Ralik haughtily piped in, "I made some adjustments to the course to take into account our current ship configuration. Less stops and shaves some time off of the overall trip."

"I'll keep an eye on it," Kar confirmed, madly going through the consoles.

"Try not to have too much fun up here, Welkas," Siri chuckled.

"Yes ma'am," Kar replied absentmindedly.

All but the new pilot filed out of the bridge following shortly after Kevin. Back in the briefing room, everyone was just sort of meandering about, waiting for the word from their captain that they were dismissed.

"So what do we do for now?" asked Bela.

"Tighten up ship functions, clean up engine performance, that sort of thing. That's my guess, anyhow," Tosh said.

"With all due respect captain," Tyr said, lifting a hand wearily. "I'd like to get some shut-eye. It's been a while since I've had some rack time."

Several others nodded in agreement. Bela, however, did not.

"Sleep? Sleep is for dead people."

"Is that so?" the captain wondered aloud. "Alright then, Merni, you just inherited Tyr's job of getting Folner into his new plates."

"Pssh. Done."

"I'm not going to have to carry you back to the crew quarters, am I?" Kevin asked, amused.

"Are we going to have another intense dance-off?" She snapped back.

"Alright, alright," Kevin said with a chuckle under his breath.

"The armor's in crate four in cluster twelve," Tyr informed as he tapped on his omni-tool. "You should have the layout transferred to your omni-tool now. You too, Kevin."

Bela and Kevin nodded.

"Alright team, time for some sleep. We've got a big mission ahead of us." The captain waved everyone on ahead and the squad left the room.

"I'll be in engineering," stated Ralik. "Lab's just about bug-free, now. I should be able to start playing with it soon."

"And I'm going to go unpack this crap," Bela said as she started after Ralik and the others.

Kevin noticed that Siri wasn't right behind them. "I'll meet you down there in a few minutes, Bela."

Bela turned her head towards Kevin as she passed through the open doors to the hall and nodded.

When the door shut behind her, Kevin looked over to his captain. _His captain_. He was back under someone's command. It wasn't the aspect of being under someone else's authority that caused him to leave the military in the past, it was all the bad decisions and orders they were forced to follow and the political crap that came with them that bugged him. At least with this squad he wasn't likely to deal with that. This team was about getting things done, not about worrying whether or not some political faction was going give so and so a bad rap because of something they did on the job.

"Feeling smug, Folner?" Siri suddenly asked.

"What makes you think I feel smug about anything?"

"Captain's intuition, remember?"

"That or you're just really good at guessing."

Kevin paused a moment to examine what he was really feeling. Oddly enough, he had plenty of things to be smug about, even if 'feeling smug' wasn't his cup of tea. Between successfully bringing back a small group of quarians from the brink of destruction who just _happened_ to be out doing the same thing he was, his casual chats with a quarian admiral and being assigned to a quarian version of the Alliance's Corsairs – yeah, he was feeling a tad smug. Leave it to Siri to pick out such small details, even when she couldn't see his face anymore.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Either that or I'm just still trying to absorb all the events from the past few days."

"It certainly has been quite a ride," she said as she leaned back against the briefing table. "I'm guessing that you feel-"

"Feel like this is only the very start?" Kevin finished. "Oh definitely. For starters, we haven't even had to deal with that geth fleet lingering around the relay, much less find out what's on the far side."

"Yes, the geth. . ." Siri seemed to zone out for a moment, as if she suddenly went deep into thought.

Kevin raised a brow at this. He had never seen Siri so distracted before. He went out on a limb to guess the reason behind it.

"Siri, does the fate of the Forverna still trouble you?"

The captain looked up from her trance and turned her head to meet Kevin's gaze. It seemed for once that Kevin had given her an unsettling taste of her own intuitive medicine.

"Honestly? Yes. It does. Quarians are very social creatures, Kevin. It still feels like I bear a void where all that interaction used to be."

"You still have a team."

"I do, and I'm grateful for that. But. . . How do I put it so that you'll understand?"

"That may not be as hard as you think."

"Imagine you lived somewhere, and you had a community. . ."

"A large tight knit community where you knew everyone by name? Talked to on a regular basis? Got to know on a personal level? I've never experienced it first hand, but I understand what you mean. It's like having a huge house full of family, and suddenly most of the family is missing."

Siri gave Kevin a most curious stare, and Kevin knew why. It was unusual for someone to so quickly grasp the concept of quarian social life, so how did this human do it? If he never experienced it himself, how was he able to mentally relate?

". . . Yes. Something like that. I'd rather not beat a dead pyjack. It's in the past and I should let it rest."

"Then why can't you?" Kevin asked.

"Because I see us heading down the exact same path that led to those events. I know most of the parameters have changed, but you can't blame me for being a bit cautious."

"Sure I can, because I know you're held together better than that," Kevin said, his voice becoming more stern. "You're not some cheap dime a dozen captain held together by tape and sticks. If you were, then the entire crew of the Forverna would be lost right now and I'd have had nothing to bring back to the Migrant Fleet but some scraps of metal and broken suit visors."

"And you might be dead."

"And I might be dead."

Siri looked down and off to the side as she pondered Kevin's words. "I'd be lying if I said that no one spoke to me like that before."

"And did it work then?"

". . . No."

"How about now?"

Siri let loose an unexpected chuckle. "I'd also be lying if I said 'no' again." There was a pause. "It's not something so simple as to just put down and walk away from, but I thank you for your encouraging words. They've helped, trust me."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kevin asked, tone quieter.

"I'm not looking for pity or sympathy. Just resolution."

"So that's what you meant when you said that the geth have it coming. Hell hath no fury. . . "

"What?" Siri asked in response to Kevin's last few words.

"Oh nothing. Just reminding myself of something is all."

The room fell silent as the two chatterboxes finally ran out of things to say. Kevin felt eyes on him, and since Siri was still looking off to the side, it wasn't hers. He looked towards the bridge and he noticed Kar staring at them from over the back of the pilot's chair. It was the perfect batter for an instant awkward moment.

Kevin shifted in place and quickly found a way out. "Look, you're tired as heck, and you've been overworking yourself for _hours_. Get some sleep and call me in the morning."

"Call you in the morning?" she asked with wary curiosity.

"Sorry, human expression. It refers to when a physician prescribes a cure for something, asks the patient to take it sleep through the night and then have them report to the doctor how they feel the next morning."

"Right. Sleep."

"Get outta here."

It was likely the admission of how tired she was that tipped her body off to actually feeling as tired as she should have. She wobbled her way out of the briefing room, stopping briefly in the doorway with her hand against the frame to support her unstable weight. She didn't turn her head or body, but simply stood there for a moment.

"Thanks."

"You can thank me by getting some rest," Kevin said, edging her along without as much restraint.

She nodded at the empty hallway and finally continued on through to the stairs to the second deck. The door shut behind her and Kevin looked back to Kar in the bridge. Kar was still looking at him, but quickly turned around to face the consoles again when he realized the only other person in the room was looking back at him.

"Welkas, you too. Get some rest once you've laid down the course to the first stop after Dholen, alright? I don't need any more zombies walking around the Kellius."

"Understood," was his simple reply from the bridge.

Something clicked in Kevin's head right then, and he suddenly bolted for the stairs. He had completely forgotten about Bela, who was probably tapping her foot impatiently as she sat there waiting for him to arrive. When he reached the cargo deck, he quickly slowed his movement to that of a casual stroll so that he didn't arouse suspicion of his forgetfulness. When he found Bela, she wasn't waiting impatiently. On the contrary, she was still working to unpack the armor pieces slated for Kevin's suit. She only had half of it unpacked because the crate she was unloading it from was stacked on top of another, and the opening was just barely out of standing arm's reach. She had climbed up, perched herself between the open crate and a nearby stack and was tossing the pieces down to the floor. Each time a metal clang echoed throughout the cargo bay, Kevin felt himself cringe. His new shiny armor was going to have battle scars before he even put it on.

"Scuffing up my new armor. Nice," commented Kevin.

"Eh, it'll buff out," Bela replied as she tossed another piece down. Kevin caught this one after a small sprint.

"But, but. . . Shiny!" Kevin replied, staring at his quarian look-alike in the reflection of the polished pauldron. Another armor piece came down at him and he used his second hand to grab it.

"Stupid Tyr putting the stupid armor high up on top of other stupid crates. He knows I'm the shortest one. I swear he _planned_ this all along." She went back to rummaging through the open container.

This was the first time since they met that Kevin had ever seen Bela in any sort of bad mood. Strangely, he couldn't help but think that Bela's venting frustration was nothing short of adorable. He felt a smile of amusement crawl across his face

"If he makes one more crack about my height. . . I'll. . . Augh! I'll stuff _him_ into my rocket launcher, find the nearest geth node and launch him into it! I just have to wonder which will explode first!"

"Deep breaths there, killer. Don't let that short temper win you over." Kevin said in a halfhearted attempt to calm her down.

"Stooooop making jokes about my height!" she yelled.

Kevin paused a moment, replayed his own words in his head and figured out what she meant. Hah. _Short_ temper.

"Wow, I didn't even think of that. That's even funnier now that I see it." Kevin was on the verge of letting chuckles and nose-born laughs out.

Bela wasn't quite as amused, though. She stopped and turned most of her body to give Kevin a 'death stare'. It probably wasn't as effective as she likely hoped. Kevin didn't know if that was because her anger was too lovable or if she was just really bad at giving stares of doom. After a brief moment of silent stares between them, Bela threw the armor piece she had just retrieved at Kevin. It wasn't a full force throw, but more along the lines of a woman who punches her male companion in the arm when he says something stupid. Kevin, hands full, held up the two armor pieces he had in his hand at the last second and the incoming projectile ricocheted loudly off of them before coming to two bounce and slide stop behind him. Kevin's smile never left his face.

"Hey, whoa! Getting a litt- Getting a bit violent, aren't we?" Kevin asked as he watched Bela hop down and approach him.

She got right up in his face, trying again to give him the death stare. She probably figured it would prove more effective this way, but the fact that she had to _look up_ at him while making such stares completely nullified the threatening effect.

Kevin, trying his best now to not make things worse with laughter, pointed at the crate with false timidness. "Erm, what about the rest of the pieces of armor?"

"That was the last one," she said, perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Right, so. . ."

"Just go stand over by the pile. Augh." Bela could no longer keep up her angry face, and she marched off to pick up the piece that she had thrown before she made it too obvious.

With a smirk at himself, Kevin moseyed on over to the loose pile of ablative armor pieces where he waited for Bela to get started. He separated them neatly by shape as she was on her way back to him.

"Stand straight, arms out," Bela ordered as she picked up a second armor piece identical to the one she had to retrieve.

"Yes ma'am," Kevin said with a sloppy salute.

There were twelve pieces of armor altogether – two for each shoulder, two for the forearms, two for the upper arms, two large multi-piece halves for the torso, two for the thighs and two for the legs below the knees. That meant he could only use ten of them, since the two for the lower legs wouldn't fit on top of the hardsuit armor he already had at the knees and down. The torso halves weren't solid – they had multiple pieces to allow a fairly large range of flexibility without leaving too much exposed – and they had heavy duty clips that came together under the opposite piece. There were covered release buttons in the event that he needed to remove the armor.

Bela started with the forearm pieces. She took Kevin's arm in one hand and carefully laid the armor piece on it. She moved it around ever so slightly, trying to find a sort of sweet spot. When she found it, the armor clicked once, slid a tad towards his hand and locked firmly into place. Bela didn't show any form of victory or self-accomplishment – apparently this was a frequent and mundane task. Without a pause, she picked up the second forearm piece and performed the same brief process a second time.

When she finished with the second arm, Kevin gave the armor pieces a tug in several directions to test how well it stayed in place. It wouldn't even budge. At least he wouldn't have to worry about any of it falling off while he was under fire. He also noticed that the armor was precisely designed not to obstruct the several pockets lining what was now considered the underside of his forearm.

"Hold still!" Bela said, voice raised. She didn't seem to be as broken up as she was a moment ago. Perhaps she wasn't one to naturally stay angry.

"Sorry, sorry. Old habit. I always have to fiddle with my new duds."

"Fiddle with it afterwards. I at least want to get them all on before we start testing for loose ones."

Kevin resumed his stiff stance while Bela picked up an upper arm piece and stuck it on. After the upper arms came the pauldrons.

"So are you always self-conscious about your height?" Kevin asked, breaking the relative silence.

"It's the only flaw of my otherwise perrrrfect body," she replied in an overly-confident tone.

"How do you know?"

"Shh shh shh. I'm working."

Each piece so far had a similar attachment method. It was the torso pieces that were the first to differ from this quick yet menial sequence. She first attached them together at the chest by loose joints. Now a single piece that almost appeared to be falling apart, she placed the torso armor on Kevin's chest. She moved them around until they slid in place, but they didn't lock like the others. She pressed down and pushed the two halves across his chest until they met flush down the center with a click. Around to his back now, Bela pushed the halves together in the back until they also came together with a click – skipping the locking in place part.

With the torso armor in place, Kevin leaned left and right, forward and backward to get a feel for it while Bela grabbed the thigh pieces. He found that the armor fit very snug against his suit and still allowed some freedom of movement. They weren't heavy, either. A plus in his eyes. He liked the solid feel of his old hardsuit compared to these sparsely placed pieces, but he liked the greater movement better.

He froze back up when Bela knelt down to attach the next pieces, not wanting to be reprimanded again. The thigh pieces curved around the outside of his thighs, leaving the inside unarmored. This was good, as having a separate armor piece cover the inside of one's thigh tended to cause chafing, regardless of how many layers of underarmor one wore. They fit in place via a similar method as the arm pieces, but there was one extra step. Two somewhat thick straps wrapped around on the inside of his thigh and came together in a combination of belt-buckles and clips.

Kevin would have figured this to be awkwardly intimate, what with Bela fondling the insides of his thighs as she worked the straps, but it lacked the intimate part. He couldn't really feel her hands fumbling around due to the suit, and Bela didn't seem to really care one way or the other. Kevin decided to crack a joke to ease his own tension as she strapped up the second thigh pieces.

"Getting awfully comfortable down there."

"You love it," she replied.

Kevin tilted his head in surprise. That sort of joke was almost guaranteed to make any other female he knew who might be in such a position to flush up and back off. Not Bela, though. He had no follow-up to that.

"Don't you ever get embarrassed?" he asked.

"When I was thirteen, yeah. Keelah, Kevin, I'm just strapping armor on. There. Should be snug. Hope you paid attention, I'm only doing that once."

"Even if I asked nicely?"

"Don't you _dare_ try to hit on me! That's role reversal in my case, and I don't stand for it! Plus, I out-flirt _everyone._"

"So I've been told. What are the straps for on those pieces for, anyways?"

"There's a button that causes the top of the thigh armor to mechanically flare out. There are big pockets under it on the suit, but it's too big an area to leave exposed. The straps help keep the armor in place, since the one of the two locks have to disengage when it's open. . . Wait, _who _told you?"

"Thanks for the help, Bela! I enjoyed our 'armor handling session!'" Kevin said as he started for the stairs.

"Don't forget to check your armor for loose fittings!" she yelled back. "I'd have tested them myself, but I think you like the feel of my hands a bit too much!"

"Sure, Bela! Whatever you say!" Kevin chuckled as he exited the cargo hold, leaving Bela to close up the crate.

He thought it funny that he got more of a rise out of her this way than trying to make jokes about it. It seemed his ability to crack jokes was dwindling again. He waited briefly just inside the stairwell entrance listening for another retort, but this time none came. He figured she'd be after him in a few moments to have the final word, but for now he could enjoy his short-lived victory as he marched up to the higher decks.


	20. Chapter 19

_**Chapter 19**_

It had been several hours since Kevin's 'run-in' with Bela down in the cargo hold. He spent the first few hours of free time listening to his music in the entertainment room while continuing to familiarize himself with the equipment. He was getting rather adept at lining up songs from his repertoire to mix well, and was already finding good lighting matches for several of his favorite songs. He was impressed with how well the dynamic lighting system picked out sounds and beats from his music and translated them into club-relevant lighting patterns. Classic setups such as strobes, lasers, fog generators and a huge array of pivot-independent multi-colored lights could be found all over ceiling and walls. One thing he was not aware of, though, was the sophisticated lighting system built into the floor.

He discovered it on accident while experimenting with options. The floor itself was transparent everywhere except for a section extending about four feet from the walls. When he found it, the opaque cover that sat directly beneath the mostly transparent flooring shifted out of the way and revealed a complex arrangement of lights and other devices. Chances were that it would be hard to see if the room was actually dark and the sub-level system was inactive, but he didn't doubt that the in-floor lightshow ensemble could make for some very nice dancing atmosphere.

Interestingly enough, he had a chance to give it a try. A couple hours after he had started listening to his music, Bela showed up. She was looking for a means to tire herself out and somehow had figured that Kevin was in Club Kellius tinkering with the gear. Kevin, who was eager to put his newfound discoveries, dance mixes and on-the-fly light show changing skills to the test, didn't need much convincing. It wasn't long before Bela was bouncing to the tunes and shaking her body in ways he had never seen from a quarian before. She danced alone for this session, though. Kevin was too busy keeping track of all the things he was playing with while she enjoyed herself.

Bela's dance-fest only lasted around an hour this time, but she was able to willingly remove herself from the dance floor on her own. After a weary thanks and a slow trot out of the room, Bela headed for bed. After she left, Kevin shut everything down. He was finally hungry and wanted something to eat.

When he entered the mess hall to figure out what to cook himself, he had to foresight to remember that he had to eat and drink like a quarian now. As he started prepping the food, he began pondering his situation with the suit once more and how keeping it on was more a choice than a requirement. He had made it a point to see how long – if at all – he could go before he ever removed any piece of the suit. A personal challenge. It was no longer a matter of him not being able to do it, but more a matter of him not _wanting_ to. This was the best time to experiment, of course. He was not chasing down targets or avoiding sight. He could relax his usual tense lifestyle for a while and see if he could ever fully get used to being locked away in a quarian enviro-suit before they got to the relay.

If that was the case and he was able to stick to it, he could then make more educated determinations on whether the suit actually benefited his lifestyle or not. There were a lot of potential merits to looking like a quarian out in the field. For one, he wouldn't have to actively dodge the galaxy's major gangs anymore unless they caught him interacting with Ralik. At least until he made himself a _new_ enemy of their organizations again, which would likely compound if or when they ever discovered that the troublesome quarian was actually the slippery wanted figure, Kevin Folner. Additionally, quarians were largely ignored by everyone except the paranoid few who convinced themselves that quarians were really out to steal credit chits and personal belongings. Lastly, no one who knew they were being targeted would rightly suspect a quarian as their killer. Nobody feared them, and nobody worried about them. That was probably the best camouflage he could think of.

Of course, it would mean a change of tactics as well. His casual chat with Linus probably wouldn't have worked as well as it did if it were a quarian talking to him instead of a fellow human. Not to forget that there were plenty of places where quarians were considerably rarer compared to humans and tended to garner more attention than he wanted. Just another setback to remember when drawing together approach plans. He could always work the double identity angle. One would be the human known as Kevin Folner. The other would be a quarian named- He needed a name. Something quarian in origin. Maybe he could get one of his squadmates to make something up for him.

Kevin was surprised to find that he could actually smell the food he was cooking. That wasn't something he expected to experience whilst in the suit. The longer he remained in it, the more he came to realize what aspects of his life he had taken for granted. What's more, he was beginning to realize how much his suit tried to compensate for it all. Most of the physical senses had been tailored to – he could see, hear and smell fine. Taste would be unhindered, but he'd have to get the food to his mouth for that to work. The only physical sense that went completely uncared for was touch. He could feel nothing, as if his contact to the world through his skin was continuously numbed or disconnected.

This was still a considerable hurdle for him, even though touch wasn't the most thought of sense he had. His time in his old hardsuits were generally limited, usually based on how long a mission took to complete. Even on his longest suited sessions, he had never stayed encased in that armor for more than fifteen straight hours. He was used to feeling his weapons in-hand, the air brush over him as he walked, the softness of a pillow in a sleep pod or on a bed. Perhaps he was just still trying to acclimate to his new tightly enclosed home, but there was something invariably different now that he couldn't quite put to words in thought. It was if the world was somehow a little flatter now, or as if a portion of the three constant dimensions had been removed.

Kevin brought himself from these depths of thought to focus on his now finished food. Continuing to remind himself of that slight nagging from the void of his mind would only drive him mad. He couldn't really complain, either. Quarians had to experience this their whole lives. He hardly had it on for a day now and he was already losing it? Kevin scoffed at himself. It wasn't typical for him to get so worked up about the background noise in his head. Besides – it was time to eat. Kevin thought back to when he saw Siri eat the turian cuisine and he mimicked her motions to pop out the small straw-like extension. He heard a click and a small yellow light blinked on in his peripheral vision, probably to indicate that the straw was out.

The inexperienced human stared down at his meal and his hands at its side. He had foolishly brought a fork with him out of habit. The entrée of his meal was a cooked portion of an avian species not unlike chickens from Earth. It wasn't solid, but there was _no way_ that was going to fit up the straw in its current state. Kevin slumped a bit in his seat. Another day, another discovered dilemma. He opted to leave the suit on, but he was _not_ going to abandon such small personal comforts like good food to nutrient paste tubes. He paused a moment before moving to gather a few utensils from the kitchen. He used them to mash up the different parts of his meal, one portion at a time, until the entrée and the two sides were naught but featureless mush. Sure the aesthetic appeal was lost, but at least the food would retain its flavor in full.

Satisfied with obliterating his meal, he picked up the plate and did his best to position the end of his under-chin proboscis within the bird-paste. He felt a minor resistance as it sunk into the steaming mass. He expected that something would automatically transfer the food up to his mouth, but nothing happened. The plate of blobs was returned to the table and Kevin stared at it again, confused. How did the quarians get the exo-suit to realize that they wanted to suck paste out of their food pouches? As he pursed his lips in frustration, he noticed something he hadn't before. There was a wide-holed straw near his mouth. It wasn't directly in front, but skewed off to the side a smidgen. It wasn't pressed up against his face, but it was within reach of flared lips. Like a starving monkey using his lips to reach out and grab a berry, Kevin grabbed and tugged at the straw. It was flexible like it was made of soft rubber but when he pierced the amorphous collection of mashed avian again and sucked on it, it didn't collapse in his mouth. Again he expected food to enter his mouth. Again he was disappointed.

The little yellow light off on the right side of his peripheral vision was now blinking red. Kevin looked back down on the plate to ensure that he got _something_, and it appeared that he had. Where was his food, then? The blinking red light told him that something was wrong. For the first time, Kevin was genuinely tempted to look up on his omni-tool how to remove the helmet. He just wanted a bite to eat for eezo's sake. Instead of looking for those instructions, however, Kevin looked up the current suit alerts. On his omni-tool he read a warning:

_WARNING! Your food processor has detected potentially lethal WARNING!_

_WARNING! amounts of levo-based proteins! This food could WARNING!_

_WARNING! cause fatal allergic reactions if consumed! WARNING!_

Beneath the alert was a pair of options. He could either eject the food immediately or continue to process it. Using a few advanced functions that he had learned courtesy of Arla, Kevin was able to get the suit to ignore the food processor at the user's heavy risk under the premise that it was malfunctioning. But the prize? The red light in his helmet faded away and returned to a golden yellow. Kevin sucked on the straw once more and he was rewarded with the mashed, but tasty food he sought. After that, his meal went fairly well. Another obstacle down. Kevin was slowly gaining a measure of respect for the quarians – one that he could have never truly gained without being inside this environmental suit. The things they dealt with during their daily lives made his rough life of merc work and wringing money for food and transport out of marked target's necks seem lush.

He was momentarily tempted to think ahead to other potential issues to see if he could mentally resolve them before he was forced to improvise out of necessity, but it soon became clear that there were far too many to think about. He then settled on just crossing each bridge as he reached them. After all, he was a 'fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants' kind of guy. At the very minimum it would keep his quick problem solving skills alert while he was on his brief contract killer hiatus.

After cleaning up, Kevin headed for the door. He hit the panel and the door opened, but instead of walking into an empty hallway, he found himself nearly colliding with a quarian that probably had the same idea about opening the door that he had. After a near miss, Kevin focused on the unexpected patron to the ship's mess hall. It was Arla.

"Whoa, whoa!" Kevin exclaimed. "Sorry, sorry. Didn't know someone was out there."

"Oh. You." She paused and stared at Kevin for a second. "Um. . ." Arla titled her head as if to say something uncomfortable.

"What? Spit it out. Figuratively."

"You. . . Your. . ." Arla whispered as she motioned her hand up and down beneath her chin before awkwardly and quickly bringing her enclosed hand to rest on the small light on the front of her visor.

Kevin leaned his head in towards her in confusion, but after a second consideration of her strange gesture, he figured out what she was referring to. He left his 'straw' hanging out in the breeze. Apparently, from the context of her body language, leaving your 'food-tube' dangling about when you weren't eating was socially comparable to walking around with the fly in your pants at its bottom-most setting after coming out of the bathroom. Kevin had no problem equating the proper social awkwardness to it as well.

"Oh, crap." Kevin turned around and pushed the tube back up to its resting place under the chin. A small automatic sliding door covered it up cleanly and he turned back around. "There, better?"

"Yes," Arla replied as she pushed passed him to head towards the kitchen.

"Couldn't sleep, I take it?" Kevin asked, taking his shot at the usual small talk.

"Yes and no," she dryly replied as she reached into the refrigerator compartment for dextro-based foods and pulled out a typical turian ration. It was packaged the same way as the cuisine they had days before. They hadn't brought any of their food up from the cargo bay yet, so that was all there was.

Kevin waited for her to finish her statement. When she had chosen to start eating and sat down at one of the tables, Kevin deduced that she didn't intend to. "Aaaaand. . .?"

Arla looked up at him, her visor typically concealing any form of facial emotion. "And? And I was hungry."

Kevin slouched backwards in over-dramatized exasperation. "Throw me a bone here. I'm at least trying."

Arla stopped sucking at her meal for a brief moment to look at Kevin and sighed. "It's too quiet. This ship runs so well that I can't hear the engines from the crew quarters."

Kevin half-expected that was part of the problem, but there was no way he was going to let on that he figured as much. "So you can't hear the engines. How does that stop you from sleeping?"

"Figures that a human wouldn't know," she said before taking in another mouthful of food. She put the package down and made a conscious effort to straighten out her hood. "The question is, do I feel like bothering to explain?"

"I'm sure every quarian has to explain this sooner or later," Kevin said as he hopped up to sit on the end of a nearby table.

Arla simply let Kevin's statement hang in the air for a while before she decided to reply. "You were aboard the Neema. Did you notice any mechanical ambient noise?"

"I might have, but I was a bit distracted the whole time."

"The ships in the Migrant Fleet are old, Kevin. Very old. Some of the larger ones date all the way back to our forced exodus from Rannoch, our homeworld, at the hands of the geth. We keep them running through repairs, fixing them at the last minute before a catastrophic failure. It's all we can do since we use all the resources we gather to service the ships and take care of our population."

Kevin nodded as though he'd never heard this before.

"As you can imagine, having them in such a constant state of near disrepair takes a toll on the internal systems, and it's all run on old, outdated equipment. Everything makes noise on a ship in the flotilla. If something _isn't_ making noise, that probably means that something broke down."

"Ah, I see. It's like when I used a fan to create white noise so I could sleep back in the day. If the fan suddenly shut off in the middle of the night, I instantly woke. But didn't you sleep fine before we reached the Migrant Fleet?"

"No."

"What about the others?"

"Toss and turn like I do. They're acclimating a bit better than I am, though."

"That sucks. So what are you going to do now that you're up?"

"The captain wants me to take some readings on your drive core. She said it will help Tosh finalize some things in his most recent program so he can get working on it as soon as he's up." She went back to sucking food from the pouch.

"Program? What program?"

"Tosh is writing a program to monitor the Kellius' systems for geth intrusions. Since we're going to have to somehow bypass a fleet of them to get to the relay, we need to make sure we're as ready as we can be."

"And since it's nearly impossible to block _all_ electronic avenues of entry, he wants to make sure we have a way to detect them as they get in. Clever."

"Tosh is more than just clever, though I suppose I should let _him_ tell you of his accolades. He loves droning on and on about his work."

"I guess I'll just have to make time to chat with him, then. Assuming I can figure out half of what he's telling me."

That reminded Kevin of something, and judging by the way Arla was suddenly staring off to the side while finishing her food, it reminded her too.

"So I guess I'll ask one more time since we're not among prying eyes and ears. . ." Kevin started as he hunched over for a more serious pose.

Arla stopped staring off into the abyss and turned to look at him as if she knew what he was going to ask and was afraid to answer.

"Are we keeping on our deal? Tech for me and combat for you?"

Arla clipped her food-tube away, stood from her seat at the table and moved to the side of the room to dispose of her empty food pouch without answering his question. Kevin had to guess it was a maneuver to give herself a moment to consider the answer. At least now she was giving it some actual thought, unlike when she responded on the Neema or even when she agreed to this in the first place. It was her last chance to decide on whether or not this arrangement was actually beneficial to them both and continue it, or if she really didn't think she'd get anything from it and turn it down. After she had done all she could to stall, she was forced to return to Kevin to give him her answer.

"Sure, I suppose. What harm could it do? As long as when you're teaching combat, you-"

Kevin cut her off with one large finger waving side to side. "Ah-ah-ah. You teach me tech _your_ way, and I'll teach you combat _my_ way."

She let out a quick, split second sigh. "Fine, fine. And since we left off on combat, it's only fair we move to tech lessons next."

"Deal," Kevin said, hopping off the table.

"But it will have to wait. I need to get those readings and send them to Tosh before we start with anything."

"Alright, that's fine. Go do what you need to do," Kevin said as they began heading for the door.

Once the door was open for them to head out into the hall, they nearly bumped into Riik and Siri who were on their way into the mess hall. Everyone momentarily halted as they all acknowledged each other.

"Heading to the engine room for those readings, captain," Arla mentioned as she hurried off away from the remaining trio. Siri simply nodded in response.

"Didn't think you guys would be up and about so soon," Kevin noted.

Riik's vision followed Arla until she disappeared around the corner towards the aft stairs to deck two. He then focused his attention to Kevin and gave him a stare. The sort of stare a highschool bully gave an underclassman who was trying to put the moves on his little sister. The problem was, Kevin did not find Riik very intimidating, especially since quarians generally weren't intimidating figures to begin with. He had to admit, though, that the timing of their exit was a little coincidental.

"What? Is there something in my teeth?" Kevin joked. The irony only added to his sarcastic tone.

"We're still adjusting," Siri said, nudging Riik with her elbow.

"Ah yes. The silent ship. Every quarian's bane. Arla was just explaining that to me."

"I'll probably try to crash again in a few hours," Riik stated, bringing himself around.

"As will I," Siri agreed. "But first, some food."

Kevin turned around and walked right back into the mess hall he just left. "Sorry, all I have is turian ration packs right now. None of your food from the cargo bay has been brought up yet."

"Votis, I want you, Welkas and Garloh on that before you get any more rack time," Siri ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Votis instinctively replied.

The two of them headed over to the kitchen and grabbed food pouches just as Arla did.

"Speaking of rack time," Kevin said as they came back from the kitchen, "I should probably show you something."

"Me?" the captain asked while popping out her means to consume the food.

"Yes you. Let me know when you're ready."

Siri swallowed her first 'bite' and looked up. "I'm ready."

While Kevin was expecting her to wait until she was done eating, he wasn't going to hesitate.

"Follow me," the human said as he headed for the door. Siri followed, leaving Riik alone in the mess hall, disappointed at the sudden exit.

Out in the hall, Kevin took an immediate left followed by a delayed right. Once they were through the short hallway doored at both ends, Kevin and Siri stepped into the master quarters.

"Keelah, look at the size of this room," Siri marveled. "It's a wonder they got it to fit under the hull!"

"Since you're captain of all this now, I suppose you get to inherit this room. Nothing more fitting for a captain of a Xelvas'taersh team, right?"

"I wouldn't know what to do with all this space. It's almost absurd."

"You get used to it. Believe me, I was surprised when I saw it too."

"But it feels so. . . Empty in here. I'm not sure if I could-"

"We could share it," Kevin all too casually suggested as he stared off in the general direction of his terminal.

Siri turned to look at him with a tilted head. "A tempting offer, but I will have to decline. I'm far too used to small spaces. Put me in here and I'll _never_ get to sleep. It's your ship, Kevin, so you can have the big, empty room."

"Well when you put it that way it doesn't seem like I'm getting much out of this."

"Think of it how you will," Siri said lightheartedly as she started a brief stroll about the room, eying the features of the master quarters with distant interest.

"Something else I've been meaning to ask you about, and this was a slight example."

"Shoot," Siri said without ceasing her investigation of the room's perimeter.

"With you being the captain of this mission and me being the owner of the ship, we have a slight division of authority. Now, I used to be in the military a while back, so I know that is a level worse than it sounds. In the thick of things, a soldier needs to know who has ultimate authority. We should establish a well-defined line so we know who handles certain matters."

Siri stopped her mental noting of the room and leaned against the footboard of the bed facing Kevin, who was still on the lower level of the room. Her arms were crossed and she stared off to Kevin's side, which indicated to him that she was finding truth in his words.

"Any suggestions?" She finally asked.

"Why are you asking me?_ You're _the captain."

"To the public and to the crew, yes. To me, however, you're not just a soldier or hired gun much in the same way that Arla is not just a sniper and Tyr is not just an inventory manager. You're my partner in crime, in a sense. My balance. You're the one who's given me the chance to complete this mission, so how can I view you as anything other than an equal?"

"What about Ralik? He decided this with me."

"Ralik? Ralik sits down in engineering with his precious lab, tinkering. He doesn't seem to have much time or interest in us quarians. I view him only as a member of the saving team and my crew. I'd have more of an opinion of him if he made an effort to chat once in a while."

"Alright, I get it. So you want my suggestions, huh? How about this then: Everything is in your court as usual, save for one thing. Anytime someone wants to make a major physical or electronic alteration to the Kellius – and I stress _major_ – they must have approval from both of us. The one exception to this is in the event that the need is dire and I am unable to be contacted in any form for my approval, then decision then falls solely to you as captain. Sound good?"

Siri lifted one arm from its interlaced position and brought her hand to rest on her helmet's chin. "What would be considered 'major'?"

"I'll leave that to your experienced ability to prioritize."

"Who will the would-be alterers ask?"

"We can keep that simple. They'll go to you, you contact me and I'll give you my say. Unless we both approve, it won't happen. I don't think it'll really come down to this in terms of complexity, but at least we'll have this taken care of already on the off-chance that it does."

"Agreed. See, this is why I take your input seriously, Kevin. I hadn't even thought of that split in authority until you mentioned it, since this does not happen in quarian culture. You're the council to my admiralty board."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," he announced with his head down and a finger high in the air.

"Where have I heard this before?" Siri asked with a chuckle.

"And I'll talk to Ralik. If he wants to be part of this expedition, he'll have to start acting like it."

"I would appreciate that," she said as she made her way back down to where Kevin was.

"One more chance to share the room! Going once! Going twice!"

Siri laughed and pushed Kevin with one hand onto the couch as she passed by him.

"SOLD to the beaten down man on the couch!"

Siri just shook her head and continued out of the room and Kevin followed closely behind. Back out in the hallway again, Siri and Kevin parted ways. She wanted to see if Riik was still in the mess hall so that she could sit down and finish her meal. Kevin, on the other hand, headed down the stairs and into engineering. He wanted to get his talk with Ralik out of the way as soon as possible, and he had to factor in taking the time to pry the salarian away from that equipment.

Inside engineering he spotted Arla, busy at work on one of the terminals nearest the spinning element zero drive core. He had no intention of bothering her right now, so he simply headed off to the side and took a quick three second elevator ride down to the lowest floor. As expected, he found Ralik there, but what was unexpected was that Ralik was stepping _away_ from the laboratory gear and heading towards him.

"Kevin, you have impeccable timing. Come, come."

Ralik halted his approach three quarters of the way to Kevin and opted to wave him over instead. At that point they both headed to where Ralik had been focusing his attention for near a week – his laboratory.

"Here it is," Ralik calmly stated. "It is finally ready. Finished."

The sight before him was a strange one to behold. Multiple separated large, blocky, polished metal contraptions averaging about neck high were tightly spread out against the previously empty wall dividing the lower floor of engineering and the cargo bay. Between the pieces were a variety of cables, conveyor belts and resting places for tools and testing materials. Each of the chaotically shaped hunks of metal were dotted with small screens, lights of unknown purpose and various compartments, most of which had doors while some only had windows. On the two center-most chunks were haptic adaptive interface enabled terminals at about waist high.

"That's great, Ralik," Kevin said with forced interest. "What _is_ it, exactly?"

Ralik simply looked to Kevin and a smile grew upon his face. When he spoke, it was in a lowered tone with more velocity, trying to make his voice sound epic and dramatic. "This. . . This is the key to our completion of the mission. This is our leverage, our proving grounds. It is from here that we will forge our place in history. . . And our income."

"Sounds like a lot of talk and a whole lot of nothing," Kevin commented, arms folded.

"Kevin, this is the equipment that will allow us to fully document everything we can about any planets we find on the other side of the relay."

"_IF_ we find any planets," shot Kevin.

"Don't be such a killjoy," Ralik replied, dropping his epic tone. "There has to be _something_ on the far side. Why else would there be a relay there? And don't even get me started on the gathering of geth."

"Don't remind me about the geth. My gut is still churning. I just hope that whatever's on the other side is more than another armada of geth. I know we have more guns and all, but you can only do so much with more firepower."

"Relax. Once we're through, we'll have plenty of open space to escape to. Anywho, this lab here will allow us to do a staggering number of experiments and compound analysis tests. If there's anything mysterious about that untouched area of space, this will help us find it. With that data in our hands, we'll be able to negotiate some insane payments for it."

"Right," Kevin snapped, quickly reminded of why he was out here in the first place – a quick payday. "So now that this is done, I hope you'll have more time to socialize."

"What? Why?"

"The captain is worried about your attitude towards the others," Kevin stated matter-of-factually as he leaned against the side of the bulkiest piece of laboratory equipment.

"So she sent you down here as her little errand boy to nag me about 'getting to know' everyone? Bah." Ralik was making it clear that he wasn't – or wasn't able to be – interested.

"No, _I_ came down here to nag you. Look, I know she's not your old STG commander or anything, but she's an experienced ranking officer of a military force nonetheless. At least make an effort or something."

"Again I ask, _why_? She doesn't need to know me to know I can do my job," Ralik explained as he turned to type a few commands into his terminal.

"The problem is that she doesn't know what your job even is, Ralik. You've been secluding yourself down here this whole time. Good Lord, Tarsil is more sociable than you are, and he actually has a reason _not_ to be."

"D-Don't bring my brother into this – that's unnecessary. Fine, I'll bite, but I'm not going to just walk up to them and start telling them my life story."

"We'll just have to figure out a better way, then," Kevin said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What, are you going to put together some sort of ice-breaking get-together? Hmph. Like you're the organizing type."

Kevin's thoughts stopped dead in their tracks as a plan hatched in his head. ". . . Maybe I will. And I know how to make it so that it's not centered around you mingling with the others. Just promise me that you'll show when I call you."

"Yes, yes, yes, I will humor you. But at least let me get a meal and a nap in. I'm beat." Ralik slouched as the fatigue started settling in.

"Go for it. I've got a few things to take care of before I can do this anyways."

Ralik nodded to Kevin and turned to head up an elevator and out to the hall. For the first time in several days, Kevin was able to convince Ralik to do something other than tinker with this blasted laboratory. He could see the merit it had despite his failure to be interested in its potential, though. Ralik was right about at least one thing: The data they could gather using this equipment could garner considerable interest in several factions, including the shadow broker himself. The number credits they could ask for. . .

Kevin then made it a point to know more about this lab. If Ralik was ever rendered unavailable or unable to run the equipment himself, someone else would have to know how to navigate the system well enough to at least be able to start and stop tests and experiments. With previously unseen interest, he pulled up a rolling chair that had been cast aside for a few days and began browsing the laboratory systems through one of the haptic adaptive terminals built into the multi-part equipment.


	21. Chapter 20

_**Chapter 20**_

Kevin didn't hang around with Ralik's lab for too long. There was a lot about it he didn't understand, much less be able to work with, so his forced interest on it waned rather quickly. After merely an hour, he was browsing the lab's systems entirely on bored momentum alone. In fact, he was quite glad to hear Arla's voice calling for him over the comms. He didn't think he could handle another fifteen minutes of that. Not at least until he better understood the technological and scientific jargon the system used ad nauseum. He wasn't inept – he could figure his way around as well as anyone else with fairly good problem solving and recognition skills – but this level of specialization was best left to trained personnel. He pushed himself away from the blocky metal mess and let himself roll most of the way across the bottom floor of engineering as he replied to Arla.

"Yeah, I'm all set. Already in engineering, in fact."

_"Alright. Be down in a minute,"_ she said.

Kevin used his foot to add to his dwindling momentum and he pushed himself over towards the workbench that they had used the last time she taught him tech. He wondered what she might teach him this time, since his knowledge of the scope of technology was limited. The implementation of tech was obvious wherever it could be found, but he wasn't just looking at it and appreciating the pretty blue lights anymore. He was intending to learn how it all worked behind the scenes, even if it took quite a while. Such knowledge could only serve to be beneficial to him, especially in his line of work. Many a time has he been crucially impeded by a locked door that he could probably have hacked with the right knowledge. Plenty of times he wished he could slice into a video monitoring network to more easily get a location of a target or number of bodyguards.

When he reached the workbench, he used the same foot he used to push himself around to buffer his rolling impact with the bench itself. In the end he had to abandon the chair anyway – even at its highest setting, it was still uncomfortably short next to the bench compared to the stools already there. With a kick, he sent the amusement device back towards its typical resting place near the lab. Just as he sat down on a bench to wait for Arla, he heard the large doors above him open and shut. The elevator near him lowered quickly and Arla stepped off.

"Well well, anxious to get started aren't you?" she asked.

"Don't get your suit in a twist. I was already down here talking with Ralik. You apparently didn't notice me enter while you were working with the engines."

"Anyways, where did we leave off? Recap what you learned last time." Arla stepped on over and took a seat on the stool next to him.

"Basic and some advanced branches of omni-tool functions. I don't think there was much else. A lot was introductory related."

"Okay then, we'll pick back up on differing methods for accessing more detailed methods, processes and engine class calls on your omni-tool. I'll explain what all that means as we go."

She spoke so fluently and easily about it, it was almost like she was starting out the lesson by making Kevin insecure in his lack of knowledge. Insecure or not, his right eyelid twitched with comical timing as she finished her statement. If he wasn't here to learn this, he might have already lost interest.

"You'll find this particularly applicable to life since this methodology is relatively consistent when accessing things on external devices, from things as simple as a door control panel to a VI core."

Kevin nodded and let her continue. Before he knew it, he was face first in an ocean of information regarding the inner workings of the omni-tool and the many branching ways to access its deepest seated features. Arla certainly did not follow the same pace that she employed the first time she taught him, and Kevin was struggling to keep up at first. Once he was able to get his mind into a state of absorption, not unlike when he was memorizing details of a marked target, he didn't have to have Arla pause so often. Good thing, too. It was starting to frustrate her. Kevin simply thought it amusing that she was now the one having her teaching methods questioned.

The lesson went on for somewhere between two and three hours. Periodically, they paused the lesson so that Kevin could regurgitate what he was learning. He knew Arla was using this stop and go method to both keep track of progress as well as see if the information she was unloading on him was sticking at all. She only had to go over one of the many topics twice, and that was because it dealt with minor differences when accessing different classes of electronics. Smaller details were always harder to commit to net memory, so it wasn't unusual for Kevin to ask her to repeat such minute details on occasion.

At the end of the lesson, Arla disappeared from the engineering room with the simple order for Kevin to stay put. When she returned, she carried with her a mechanical-looking orb not unlike the drones they had used against the Cerberus soldiers. This one, however, appeared to be deactivated. It didn't have the internal glow of a functioning one, any lights on it were unlit and it didn't hover on its own. She casually approached the workbench under Kevin's masked gaze and set the orb down on the countertop with a mechanical crack.

"This. . . This is an ultra-scaled down version of my combat drone," Arla stated. "I call her Tula'Rok vas Namor."

"Wait, let me get this straight," Kevin said, pivoting his body on the stool to face Arla. "You named your combat drone? And gave it a _gender?_"

"Don't insult her. She may be micro-factured, but she's my sidekick in a sense. Wouldn't you name a pet that followed you into battle?"

Kevin still found it a silly idea to name a mechanical construction, but in regards to the pet thing, he could see where she was coming from. It was probably the closest thing to pets quarians were allowed to have anywhere in the Migrant Fleet. "Do all quarians have personal drone-pets?"

"Not all, no. They're usually only favored by techs and a few marines here and there. You'll find, though, that all of us here except for Kar'Welkas has one. They do more than distract enemies and blow up, you know."

"Really? You all have one? Why haven't I seen them?"

"Counter to popular belief, they aren't entirely self-sufficient. They require a disposable remote source of power, and the materials for such things aren't easy to come by on the flotilla and aren't exactly cheap on the market, either. Plus, we don't just bring them out for any occasion. We use them when needed. Only Tosh has been able to engineer a drone that can last longer than a couple hours, and that's idling."

"Okay, so, why am I looking at a dead Tula'Rok again?" Kevin asked, failing to see where this was going.

"This is your exam. Using what I've taught you about software tech so far – and a little mechanical ingenuity – you are going to restore Tula'Rok back to functioning order."

Kevin stared blankly at the orb. It looked so pitiful. Broken. Not function-y. He had no idea where to begin. He obviously couldn't just omni-tool his way in if it was off. He wondered if such things actually had a power switch, and internally chuckled at the concept of a combat drone with an on/off switch. After his brief self-distraction, he slowly reached out and slid the hunk of carefully manufactured metal bits to the area on the bench directly in front of him. Time for his 'wing it' instincts to kick in.

Any moment now.

Despite the fact that the device was clearly deactivated, he tried using his omni-tool to access it anyways just to see if he could. No results.

"I don't suppose inducing a electrical overload will kick it on?" He asked, half-joking.

"I hope that wasn't a real question," Arla replied, leaning back on her stool and using an elbow on the bench to support her weight.

"Just checking. . ." Kevin said as he tossed the idea out like a discarded drawing done by a disgruntled artist having a bad day.

After about two or three minutes of brainstorming what the start of this really was, something in his head clicked. It wasn't on because it wasn't receiving any power. Perhaps it should be _plugged in_. It appalled him how something so simple could have eluded him for so long. If this involved killing someone, he'd probably have aced it by now. He picked the orb up and started fiddling with it, attempting to look for some sort of small cable that was hanging loose. Anything that represented a break somewhere in its electrical circuit. Once his eyes failed to reveal the answer to him, Kevin turned to his omni-tool. He remembered one of the different scanning functions he was able to access after Arla's last lesson, and he used it to scan the electronic makeup of the device. He saw his disconnected cable – which looked oddly like post-manufacturing modification – but it was somewhere near the middle. He had to tinker a bit.

As he started to work towards that goal, Arla tilted her head. "So what is being a professional murderer like?"

"I already told you. I'm anything _but_ professional," Kevin said without looking up from his task or ceasing to tinker with it.

"Whatever, my question still stands."

"Remember when you shot that Cerberus soldier in the face?"

"Yes. All too well. It's like it's burned into my mind."

"Did you have any feelings just as you did it? Anger, maybe?"

Arla nodded slowly and looked off to the side. "Anger because they attacked us and tried to kill us when all we wanted was to go home. Fear because I had never shot anyone like that before. Duty because it had to be done for the safety of the Migrant Fleet."

"Alright. Replace anger and fear with "I need to eat tomorrow", and replace duty with "I always get the job done or else". Throw in a bit of creativity when dealing with death and you've go yourself a contract killer. At it's most basic level, anyways."

"You make it sound so exciting," Arla dryly stated with a heavy serving of sarcasm.

"That's only because I've been doing it for years," Kevin explained while edging closer to his objective. "Don't get me wrong, the job is definitely thrilling. Danger around every corner, espionage and subtlety on every other floor, free reign on playing the predator and a free pass to be schizophrenic. You don't have to be a true master at anything in particular except for being a master of deception. You need to deceive your target long enough to make the fatal blow. That could be something as simple as not ever being made aware to the target, or as complex as constructing an entire alter ego that befriends the target just to get in, make the kill and get out without staring down a platoon of guardsmen."

"And just like every other job, it's not all fantasy and storybook," Arla concluded.

"Naturally. For instance, I'm a constant target for big name gangs whose member's I've been hired to kill. I have to keep a low profile on the Citadel if I ever want to keep going back. Those are the easy parts, though."

"What are the hard parts, then?" Arla asked, fully attentive and genuinely curious.

"When you get hired to kill a friend or someone you are familiar with that isn't that bad of a person. When you go weeks without a paying contract because your target found out and fled early on. When anyone you talk to more than a few times gets a nasty message from the local dominating gang about your 'deeds' and willingly or unwillingly cuts contact."

Kevin paused.

". . . When a paying job turns out to be a trap. Things like that."

There was a brief moment of silence. Arla had no witty response this time. Even if she did, there wasn't much of a time window to get the words out. Kevin had achieved his goal with a quick 'Ah-ha!', as if the success came at the perfect time to distract him from something else.

The orb powered up, its lights flickered on, the inner glow became more and more radiant, and its mechanical bits whirred to life with the occasional shift of its scarce external shell. That was all it did, however. It did not hover in place as expected, and it certainly didn't respond to voice or omni-tool commands. It went from a dead drone to a mortally-wounded-and-unable-to-continue drone. Kevin already had an idea of what to do next, though. He couldn't give it orders via omni-tool, but he could certainly transfer data.

"I need a kernel for the drone's operating system. I don't have one."

"Well done," Arla half-praised. "I'm uploading a basic kernel to your omni-tool now, along with several other core pieces of software and potentially inefficient firmwares for it. I'll leave it to you to determine what should be uploaded and what shouldn't."

Kevin nodded and set to work right away getting the kernel uploaded and configured according to things he had learned to be acceptable defaults. During the configuration stage, Arla started up her inquisition again.

"So you just kill your target and leave?"

"It's never quite that simple," Kevin replied amidst continuous blips. "A lot of times the target is most vulnerable in areas that aren't private. Public view is an easy to use shield, and most targets are wholly unaware they are using it as such. You never want to assassinate someone in plain view unless either A, your employer requested it, or B, the circumstances will not allow for any other feasible option. You could argue that a ranged kill from a sniper rifle or some similar method is acceptable in public as long as the killer is out of sight, but that's not quite true. People in civilized locations will often react quickly to the death, and it isn't hard for authorities to quickly trace the source and become problematic."

"There's a lot more to the job than meets the eye, apparently," Arla stated with a nod.

"Most times the employer will ask for a specific result, such as how the body is resting after you leave, or how the visible damage is administered. Other than that, though, you're often given free reign to carry out the hit however you see fit. I like to be creative and unpredictable, it makes figuring out who made the hit a lot more difficult. Some prefer to leave 'signatures' or 'calling cards' as they used to be called. Something unique that they leave on the scene intended to be found by any investigating party. That boosts your reputation as a contract killer tenfold in speed, but it also makes you way too easy to trace and find."

Kevin finished his software changes to the drone, hesitated a moment and then had the device commit the changes to memory. Once that was complete, the drone started to hover and move about.

"Ha. Did it," Kevin said with suppressed excitement.

"So you did," Arla replied. Whether or not the inflections of being impressed were artificial or not remained to be seen.

Arla scanned the drone with her omni-tool and pondered the results. "Well, she's not quite configured completely and she's running slightly inefficient, but you pass. That wasn't bad for a first shot."

"That was an awfully convoluted exam to have pop into your head at the last moment," Kevin mentioned, trying to catch Arla off-guard.

"That's because it didn't," she admitted. "That's – more or less – one of the entry-level exams students studying electronic and mechanical technology in the Migrant Fleet take."

"How old are we talking?" Kevin asked.

"Early teens or so. They don't get their own limited omni-tools until they pass this exam."

"Oh, so I'm on par with a thirteen year-old. Great."

"You wanted to know," Arla shrugged before she stood off of the stool. "I guess we're done for now."

"Alright. Now I'll just go curl up in a corner somewhere while I try to absorb all that information."

"Oh come on. It was child's play. You're capable of more than that."

Kevin froze for a second before turning to look at Arla with his head cocked to the side. "That was a compliment! I heard it."

Arla didn't respond to that at all and instead moved on to something else. "Anyways, I suppose we move on to combat training now?"

"Sure, sure. Also, I'm saving that audio sample. Going to put it in my personal files with all my other especially important documents."

Kevin was sure that Arla executed a classic eye-roll before she started off towards the nearest elevator. He had fallen behind just enough so that when Arla sent the elevator upwards the moment she stepped on it, he was not aboard. Instead of running across engineering to grab the elevator he used to get down here hours ago, he waited for Arla to step off so he could call it back down. Up on the 'top' floor of engineering, he had to sprint after Arla to catch up with her as she left the room.

"Aren't you going to eat first?" Kevin wondered aloud, more interested in her reasoning than food.

"No. I'm quicker on my feet with half an empty stomach than with a full one"

Kevin nodded. A valid and logical choice. "Right. I'll just grab a couple of waters on my way for afterwards."

At the top of the stairs, Arla turned into the entertainment room while Kevin dashed off to the mess hall to grab some hydration for their session. It took him less than a minute to get the water from the refrigerator and get back to the entertainment room. Why the rush? Kevin hadn't even thought of it as rushing. He was simply. . . Excited. He hadn't thought of sparring as an enjoyable event by any means previously, but he was no longer sparring against random Alliance marines whose only goal was to win and look good. He was sparring with a squadmate who may or may not give two pyjack droppings about his well being. For some reason, that small detail changed his view on the combat lessons entirely. As long as she was in a relatively good mood, he could even consider it 'fun'.

By the time he entered, Arla was only just beginning to shed her armor. She had only removed a pauldron and was working on the second. Kevin tossed the water containers off to the side and moved to the center of the room, about three meters from where she was. He focused on removing his own armor, with his reason being the same as hers for doing so – this way he could use full range of movement with the whole body. It was necessary for the combat lessons, especially since he learned all his techniques armorless. The more her armor came off, the more he began to realize that he had unconsciously begun to view the exosuit as the natural appearance of a quarian and anything covering that – cloths, armor or trinkets – was analogous to clothing. It was almost as if the more armor she removed, the more her curves seemed to. . .

That's when something caught his eye. The twinkle of lights shining off of a shiny object. Her Xelvas'taersh icon. She had already chosen a way to wear it, something he still needed to do. She wore hers at the side of her left hip with the strap wrapped twice around. It crisscrossed over the front her lower abdomen and tightened snugly around her waist and hips so that the medallion dangled at her side as if it were attached directly to her suit. It worked for her because her pistol holster clip was on her right side since she was left-handed. And then she removed that too.

"Kevin, are you going to take your armor off or not? Trust me, you'll regret it if you don't," Arla said bluntly while carefully setting her medallion down in a piece of removed armor.

Kevin snapped to and started trying to remove his left pauldron. "Yeah, yeah. Gimme a sec." This quickly became a problem for him when he forgot where the clip release button was. He knew that there was one, he knew that Bela told him where it was, but he couldn't seem to remember just where it was and he certainly couldn't twist his helmeted head enough to get a good look at the pauldron to figure out where it was. He started to feel around for the release button.

"Hold on. Uh. Few more seconds."

Arla shook her head and started to approach him. She already knew what the issue was. "Quit fooling around, Folner." She pushed his hands away, reached under the lip of the pauldron and pressed a finger into a depression on the underside. The pauldron lifted and shifted freely before she pulled it up and off. Once off, she handed the piece of armor to Kevin and turned to walk back to where she was.

"Well, now I feel like a five year old," Kevin sulked. He replicated her moves for the remaining pauldron and set both on the floor off to the side. The rest followed shortly.

Now that they were ready to begin, Kevin and Arla simultaneously broke into various warm-up routines. That lasted only a few minutes, as both parties seemed eager to begin the training.

Kevin held up a finger. "Okay, first I'm going to-WHOA!" He was cut short by the immediate need to dodge an incoming quarian fist.

"Don't talk. Just fight," Arla said just before she went to follow up.

Kevin smiled. She was taught by example, and she knew that almost as much as he did. While her method of making such a fact known was crude, it made a valid point. She'd much rather learn with fewer words. Kevin focused on her next move and he made ready to counter.

Kevin had a simple plan for this lesson: reinforcement. He wasn't going for innovation or new content – there wasn't exactly as great a depth to the amount of information he could pass on in combat as she could with tech. His intent with the session was entirely to see if the lessons she had learned so hard last time stuck fast in her mind. Once that was on a level Kevin could consider 'settled', he would move on to more diverse forms of the same thing. It would also serve as a trust test. Kevin believed that Arla would no doubt quickly learn that nothing seriously new was being implemented or taught. If she failed to trust his new method of instruction, it would be obvious and the lesson would not complete until she did. And so began a very familiar back and forth with brief pauses for proper stance and approach explanations.

The lesson began as Kevin expected, with Arla automatically reverting to her predictable, memorized moves. Once they were considerably warmed up, however, she had started to switch to a less familiar set of attack and counter combinations. After an hour and a half of mildly frustrating stop and go bouts, Arla had begun to rely less on memory and more on what her immediate situation was. She even managed to knock Kevin off his feet more than once this time. That was reason enough for him to move on to his more strategically complex repertoire of moves to fully test her mettle in this sense. Her results were far from perfect, but they showed promise.

It was a learning process for Kevin as well. While he was testing her predictability at the start of the lesson, he was actually more focused on his own situation instead. He was busy finding out the physical limitations of the suit itself, how they affected his performance and how he would have to adapt. He found that the suit was a bit more flexible than he had given it credit for. His range of motion was largely unimpeded except in one crucial and expected area – the helmet. While it wasn't as bulky as his old hardsuit helmets, the tubes and wires that came out of the back of it and attached to the upper back of the environmental suit were too short in his opinion. It restricted his head's movement at times where he needed to turn it at a sharp angle or move it in an awkward way. The lack of peripheral vision only deepened the effect. He wondered how Arla overcame these problems, if she faced them at all.

In the grand scheme of things, however, this impairment turned out to be more minor than he would have thought. He actually had more trouble adjusting to the weight of his armored legs during combat than he did with the helmet issues. He did his absolute best to minimize any outward appearance of this time of learning, though. If a student, whatever the level of training, was not confident of their instructor's skill or knowledge in that field, then the lessons would ultimately fail. He had to prove to Arla that he could adjust to new parameters and still outperform a very experienced combatant. To that end, he was successful. To that end, he believed he was able to retain a certain level of respect.

Nearly four hours had passed since they warmed up before they called it a day. Muscles strained and panting heavily, the dueling duo finally trudged off to the side where their water rested. With their backs against the wall, they slid down to a sitting position. They both popped their straws at the same time and started chugging water. Once Kevin's initial burning thirst was sated, he took a moment to breathe before downing more. As he cooled down, he suddenly became aware of yet another wonder about the suit.

He was well beyond the point where he should be sweating. In fact, he should have had sweat pouring into his eyes right now, but he didn't. He could feel beads of sweat _gathering_ on his face, but they never seemed to accumulate to the point of rolling down his skin. It was with this train of though that he realized that he could feel a slight breeze wafting across his face from his chin up. He didn't know if quarians could sweat or not, but this was an oddly effective way of keeping his visor from fogging up and his face from sabotaging itself with salty fluid excretions.

Eventually, the loud panting in his ears from both him and his squadmate receded, giving way to an empty silence. It reminded him of their first bout, how it ended in quite the opposite way – what with the noise and frustration and an onlooker. The second time was quite a stride from that, ending in pretty much the same way as now. The difference was that there was more conversation last time. Some of it was combat related, but one particular question stood out in his mind.

"So. Why are you, a human, so openly hospitable to us?" Arla asked.

"I already told your captain why," Kevin started, retracing his own very words in this memory. "I have a soft spot for quarians."

"You said that last time," Arla pointed out.

Kevin suddenly realized that she actually _did_ ask that question again. She must have been thinking the same thing as him. It was beginning to strike him as odd how often that had been happening lately.

"What? Oh, well, yes. I did. Were you expecting a different answer?"

"No, I was hoping to continue following the script of our last conversation on this matter," she said. It was very difficult for Kevin to tell whether or not she was being sarcastic, so he decided to humor her.

"I think you told me I was dodging the answer," he continued.

"And then?"

"I dodged it some more."

"Yes, but you had a reason."

"I did. 'It's a long story'," Kevin said seriously, actually trying to dodge it once more. "I don't see where you're going with this."

"We have plenty of time _now_, don't we?"

Kevin was stuck. He wasn't exactly sure how to go about this. "That we do, but. . ."

"But what? Spit it out, Folner. You've been hiding this for too long now. If I'm going to trust you, a squadmate, at my side in battle, I need to know you don't have a reason to hide anything from me."

"Alright, then practice what you preach," Kevin demanded, buying more time. "Tell me why you have such a problem with humans."

"Aside from the political spew and buzz-words?"

"You never _did_ strike me as the political type."

Arla sighed. He had a point. If she wanted to dig information out of him under that guise, she had to be equally open.

"Okay, okay. My pilgrimage was. . . Longer than normal. Extended. I wound up finding myself in need of transportation. A group of humans with a freight craft were heading in the same direction as I, so I bartered passage as a stowaway. It was supposed to be my last stop before I could acquire what I needed to complete my pilgrimage and return to the Flotilla. I was 'accidentally discovered' in their cargo hold. Those who I traded with for passage denied the deal we made, and the crew had me acting as their personal maid, housekeeper and punching bag for what I thought was almost two months."

"How long was the intended trip?"

"It was supposed to be a two day trip, relays included. Obviously I wasn't going to make it to my destination. Once I gathered enough courage to fight back, I did. I ended up killing one of the humans with his own gun. The others threatened to take my suit off as punishment. Instead, they sold me off to slavers. Luckily, the slavers didn't realize I could disassemble a pistol and hide it in my suit. The crew of the slaver ship was small, but they were well armed. When they all went to sleep, I hacked my cell door open and shot them all in their beds. I used the ship to bring the slaves home, get my cargo and return to the Migrant Fleet. That's my bitter tale."

"Alright, yeah, I can see why you wouldn't trust someone after something like that," Kevin said with a sagely nod.

"Now it's your turn for story time," Arla said.

Kevin grit his teeth at how quickly she jumped at the chance to get him to talk. "I don't know. I've. . . Never talked about this. With anyone. Ever."

"You don't think _my_ story was personal to me? It's not like I had an easy time talking about it either."

"No, I wasn't as directly wronged as you were, but. . . Mine's a little different on the personal level, is all." Kevin was starting to fidget. He hated it when he fidgeted. It showed emotional cracks.

"Then just tell me why," Arla said in a much more gentle tone than he'd ever expected to hear from her.

"I swear to God, Nor, if you're involved in this somehow, I'll choke you to life and back again. Alright Arla, I'll tell you my story. I'll let you figure out the why on your own."

"Fair enough," she agreed as she shifted to sit more comfortably. She didn't even ask who Nor was.

"I'm no drell, but I can recall this particular memory pretty well. To the point that it won't leave me alone some days." He took a sip of water and started the reel of this memory from the beginning.

_This was a couple years back. I was on Omega. I spent a lot of time there during those days. It was different. The stench hadn't quite settled into my nose yet. It was also because contract work was usually pretty good. Someone always needed someone else to die for some morally obscure reason. I didn't care. I just wanted my creds, and work elsewhere was in a major slump._

_ The problem was that when work was lacking, it lacked for a long time and it followed me. Finally there was a break – one of the local big name gangs, the Blue Suns, were hiring out freelance mercs to take care of some off-station trouble that they couldn't be bothered to handle at the time. The pay was good, especially during a slump, but it only paid when the job was done. I took the contract without hesitation since my current number of credits had dwindled down to about three hundred._

_ The job was to kill a certain high-ranking officer on an independent faction's military space station. It was marked as in the Satent system of the Pylos Nebula. The station was supposedly orbiting a planet called Raisaris. A simple enough objective, but I had a major, major setback. I didn't have a ship at the time._

_ After formulating several scenarios of what I could do to 'acquire' a ship, I ran into someone else who had just talked with the Blue Suns recruiters. She was your typical run-of-the-mill Omega-stranded quarian looking for ways to make some credits. She didn't have much going for her appearance-wise. All her clan colors had faded or been snuffed out by other materials used to fix them. Her hood was tattered and she had caked smudges on her visor. She had been there a long time. She also sounded miffed, so I decided to see what her issue was._

_ "You're a bit aggrivated for someone who just took on a high paying job," I said._

_ "No advance pay! How can they expect someone to just run off and pull off a stunt like that without advance pay?"_

_ "Because they're the Blue Suns."_

_ "Idiots. Bosh'tets."_

_ "Why so upset? You should have expected that."_

_ "I don't have a working ship," she admitted. I nearly lost interest after that, but she was a talker. "I was hoping for some advance pay so I can get the repair bill paid and get my ship back in working order. But No. No! I can't pay a bill if I haven't a credit to my name! That's a problem when they want you to retrieve a package from some obscure military installation!"_

_ "What's the remainder of the bill, then?" I asked. I think I was just continuing conversation out __of habit at this point._

_ "Two hundred and ninety!" She muttered a lot of things in a quarian dialect that my translator didn't pick up on._

_ She had my attention, though. A working ship. An obscure military installation. "Where was your pick-up point again? Was it in the Pylos Nebula?"_

_ "Sadden or something. It's in my logs. Doesn't matter. I can't get there anyways."_

_ The pay for the job was easily four times that of her repair bill. I took a chance. What can I say? I was bold._

_ "It seems we have similar destinations, if different missions. Tell you what, quarian, if I pay your repair bill, you let me ride with you to the station where you are to pick up your package."_

_ "Tch! Human! Conniving, like those filthy batarians. You'll steal my ship. Everyone wants to steal my ship. When it works."_

_ "I guess I'll just take my two hundred and ninety credits and be on my way, then," I said. A gambit. Fun to do with the Omega crowd._

_ "Wait! Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait. Nor."_

_ "What the heck is a nor?"_

_ "My name, you tool! Nor'Fessol nar Tonbay!" I didn't realize then what 'nar' meant._

_ "Derrik Trespa." A blatant lie, I know, but I had long since made it a habit of not using my proper name around eccentric, talkative strangers._

_ "Okay, Derrik, maybe we can cut a deal. I have the idea of a lifetime. You pay my repair bill and I'll sport you a round-trip pass to the Sad Sad system."_

_ I didn't hesitate._

_ "Deal. Let's go get your ship."_

_ We traveled to the docks a few levels down. They were mainly used for 'impounded' vessels and ones in need of a paid 'repair bill'. Nor told me it was in bay twelve, so we talked to the turian in charge of the bays on that level. I gave up the last of my credits to get the ship ready. Apparently there was a twelve credit interest on the bill. It was all I had. I know, I know, there's no such thing as interest on a repair bill, but I had little choice at that point._

_ Then I got to see what I paid for._

_ It looked like a very inflated shuttle, at best. It's chassis was like an elongated cube with rounded off corners and thrusters jutting out of the back. It had a single weapon, almost too big for the vessel and awkwardly mounted on top as if someone accidentally dropped it there and lost interest. Needless to say, I felt myself deflate._

_ "Yaaaaaaaay! I got my Shorlan back! My baby Shorlan!" she shouted. I took it that 'Shorlan' was the name of the misfit of a ship we were about to board. "Bonus points, Darren. I actually have a stock of levo-protein food aboard. You can have a snack!"_

_ "I'm overjoyed."_

_ "Now, Warren, let's go get us some cash."_

_ "Charrrge."_

_ I had wondered why she, a quarian, had levo-amino based food, but I certainly wasn't going to argue with it. I went and got my hardsuit and boarded. I didn't know if I'd have to take any external detours on the military space station._

_ When we were aboard, Nor's demeanor changed almost instantly. Suddenly she moved with solid strides instead of that of a batty quarian whose had a bit too much to drink. Immediately I knew something was up. She sat down in the pilot's seat, straightened out her cloths and hood and rubbed the crap off of her visor. As we backed out of the docks, she asked me a question._

_ "So what's your real name, stranger?"_

_ "I wondered how a crazy quarian managed to keep a ship under her name. Folner. Kevin Folner. And you?"  
__ "Nor's my real name. No one knows of any Nor other than that Omega-stranded, loud quarian. Blends well, I think."_

_ "Agreed."_

_ "So do you actually have a mission out to the Satent system or were you really planning on stealing my ship?"_

_ "Why do you ask?" I asked, literally gunning for trouble. She made the mistake of casually reaching under her terminal. An all too familiar and predictable sign that a weapon was about to be made manifest._

_ "Because my shotgun says-" I wasn't stupid, and I wasn't slow. A few quick shows of sleight of hand and suddenly I was holding the shotgun._

_ "You mean _my_ shotgun. Protip: don't point guns at me. It puts me on edge and my trigger finger gets itchy."_

_ Her hands were raised in defeat and she pressed her back square against the terminal. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she really thought her days were about to end. What else can you expect after surviving alone on Omega for a long time? I played another gambit and slowly gave her the gun._

_ "Yes, I actually have a mission out in the Satent system, like you. I wasn't planning on stealing your ship, but it isn't considered stealing if the pilot and owner is dead because of a self-defense reaction."_

_ "Point taken, Kevin. I like your style, but I wouldn't have let me live if I were you. Always comes back to bite you later."_

_ "I can remedy that any time I want," I said. I went for 'imposing and dangerous figure with self-control. I still don't quite know how well I did, but it seemed to work. "I just don't want to right now." A smile and a wink sealed our temporary alliance._

_ The trip out was boring and quiet. After we bounced off of all the necessary mass relays, it was still at least a day's trip to the star system. We talked a little, the usual small talk between two people shoved into a cramped cockpit. The only other room on the ship was larger, but it was crammed full of. . . Stuff. Most of it was taken up by a huge, obviously aftermarket power generator. Its purpose wasn't clear, but I had to guess it was for the large weapon mounted on top._

_ When she announced that we were getting close to dropping out of FTL, I suited up and waited. When we came out of FTL, we saw the system in the distance. Unfortunately, we never made it there. As we approached, Nor picked up four or five ships flanking us on all sides, coming in fast. It was an ambush. Probably pirates._

_ "See that terminal haphazardly stuck to the wall next to your chair?" she suddenly asked me._

_ "Yeah, I see it. Haphazard and all. Did you mount this? Good lord."_

_ "Hardy har har. I hope you can shoot better than you can joke. You saw that ugly can on top, right? It's a full size GARDIAN defense tower, but I added some extra punch. Got no targeting, though, so that's where you come in."_

_ "Are you friggin' kidding me? That tower's going to put out so much heat that it'll cook us in here."_

_ "Well then it's a good thing you brought a hardsuit with thermal dampeners. Now get on the guns while I drive. Unless you'd rather say high to those pirates with your face smeared on their viewports!"_

_ "I'm shooting, I'm shooting!" I shouted as I threw on my helmet._

_ The resulting battle was a bit of a blur to me. We had this ungainly piece of crap for a ship with a joke for a gun emplacement. Nor was an amazing pilot though. I thought I could fly small craft, but she weaved in and out of their battle formations like a master craftsman creating a true work of art. She worked incredible angles with dizzying speed and got me more shot opportunities than I could have asked for. We actually won the dogfight against impossible odds._

_ But it wasn't without consequences. The last ship that we took out blasted the rear of our vessel, completely eradicating our thrusters and damaging our only weapon beyond repair. We still had some power left, but we had no means to move, and we were drifting away from the Satent system pretty quickly. Nor shut down all the systems except for basic life support and an emergency broadcast. It was all we had for hope that we'd get to see civilization again. Thanks to her convenient stocks of food, we were able to ration it. I figured my particular kind of food would last me about three weeks. Water shared between the two of us would last two at most._

_ And so we drifted. Minutes turned to hours. Hours into days._

_ Nor and I reacted to each other the same way any two individuals forced to coexist in a cramped space would. We were at each other's throats. Most fights were verbal, since she wasn't much of a fighter. We must have had it out for more than a day straight before either of us passed out from lack of sleep._

_ After we got some sleep in and took in our current fate, we both calmed down. We mutually agreed that just fighting and getting bitter with each other was just going to make this ordeal miserable. We decided to just talk for a while. We started with our early days, or what I could remember as early days. I told her about my life as a merc and she told me about her life as an Omega beggar. As the hours and days passed on, our conversations became more personal, more deeply rooted to who we really were, and what our homes were like. I learned a lot of interesting things about quarian culture from her. They were a fascinating people, and I normally wasn't one for sociology._

_ Maybe it was the cabin fever, but I started to find myself attracted to her personality. The real Nor, not the silly facade on Omega. I just figured that was what happened when two individuals spend every waking moment in very close proximity. Eventually, probably somewhere around the middle of the second week of drifting, I found out that the attraction was mutual. We started getting close. Really close. How odd, right? I had only known her, a quarian, for not even two full weeks and we were. . ._

_ Anyways, it was getting down to the wire. We had run out of water and Nor had to shut off the life support to continue to power the emergency broadcast. I had to don my helmet to keep from suffocating, but the hardsuit wasn't designed to be a long-lasting life support device. She told me about this thing that quarians did. Something about linking suit environments. I didn't quite understand. She was unusually bashful when she talked about it, so I had a hunch it was considered a touchy subject in quarian culture. It probably wouldn't have mattered, since we'd probably have died of dehydration before suffocation. In the end, we just figured we'd die in each other's arms or something overly poetic like that._

_ But fate has a weird sense of humor._

_ As we drifted towards an outlying asteroid belt, a ship big enough to fit our entire vessel in their cargo bay took us in. After about an hour of just sitting in the bay in our ship, three figures stepped into the large room and opened the airlock to our ship. They stepped in as if they owned the ship and proceeded to knock us both out. We had no fight in us anyways. Tired, thirsty and resigned to death, we were._

_ We woke up later in a small, clean white room with a single sliding double door on one wall. No windows, no furniture. My helmet and hardsuit was gone, but I still had my clothes. I couldn't tell if it was a closet, a prison cell or an interrogation room. Nor was already awake._

_ "I searched the room, but there's nothing. Just a camera in one corner. Not even one-way mirrors."_

_ "Did you break the camera?" I asked. I hate cameras._

_ "No, I didn't want to provo-"_

_ "Overload it. I hate being watched when I don't know where I am."_

_ "We have no weapons in case they come in, you know."_

_ "I don't need weapons," I stated._

_ She tilted her head and worked her omni-tool. A series of sparks emanated from the camera and its slow back and forth surveillance halted permanently. Shortly after, we heard yelling outside the __door._

_ "Here they come," she said without interest._

_ "Naturally," I said as I made my way to the wall next to the door._

_ There wasn't exactly a lot of space to move in the room, but I could easily press myself against the wall where the door was to avoid immediate attention of anyone coming to visit. And visit is exactly what one guy did. He charged into the room with a pistol drawn, attention completely on Nor. I could tell by his attitude and stance that he had every intention of shooting her. I smashed my fist into his temple. Nor grabbed the gun and we exited. The next guy who showed up had an assault rifle, and he didn't wait to open fire. Fortunately I was ready for it, and I used dark energy to give him, the gun and any projectiles that were about to leave the barrel a slight nudge. A nudge across the room and straight into a wall on the-_

"What did you just say? Dark energy?" Arla asked, interrupting Kevin's story with very little in the way of tact.

"Let me finish the story first! I'll explain that later."

"Fine!"

_ANYWAYS. That guy was dead too. The third and final guy swore continuously after he saw that little display and tried to run away towards what looked to be a sort of control room, saying something about not being equipped to fight 'one of them'. I pulled him back through the air and I took the gun from Nor. As he was about to fly over our heads, I let loose two quick shots – pop-pop, just like that – and he rolled onto the floor behind us, dead and bleeding._

_ It seemed that those three guys were the only ones in the entire facility, which turned out to be a clandestine space station hidden in the asteroid belt. After Nor and I found some water and food devoid of any specific proteins, we chowed down and investigated. It was hard to tell the exact purpose of the facility, but it looked like it was some kind of relay or proxy for certain messages and data which used several machines scattered about the entire asteroid belt to receive and transmit it all. There was a lot of source locations, but no destination locations that I could find. Either way, the data was still getting out and it was likely that the purpose of this station was to mask those very details._

_ We soon learned that the relay station belonged to a group known as Cerberus. Nor and I had both heard the name before and we both figured that any data caches we pulled from the relay equipment would be worth a lot of credits to a lot of people. So I grabbed a flash storage device from one of the cabinets and downloaded as much data as I could pull before some sort of self-contained defense system cut me off and tried to fry the device. I pulled it before any damage could result._

_ Figuring ourselves compromised, we found our gear and started searching for the bay that the ship that captured us took us in. We found it, hijacked the ship – which was more or less a fancy cargo transport – and headed straight for Omega._

_ We wanted a word with those Blue Suns of guns. See what I did there? Suns of guns. Nevermind. Back at Omega in a bit of a more secure port, we made our way to Afterlife, the big club there, where the recruiters had relocated to. We were both so relieved to be back in civilization that we decided to spend some time enjoying ourselves first. We danced together for the first time and continued for hours, just having a great time. Actually, I think that was the first time I had ever really danced in a club. We had to stop sooner or later, though, and we had one thing to take care of before we would leave Omega._

_ "I'm going to have a brief word with these guys," Nor said._

_ "I smell trouble, Nor. If things feel off, get out. I mean it."_

_ "If I die, I'll just come back to haunt you." I'm sure she meant that as a joke._

_ She ran a finger under my chi- She smiled a quarian smile and asked me to wait for her. So I did._

_ Not more than a a few seconds after she headed off, a slightly older human grabbed my shoulder._

_ "Hey. You with that quarian there? Looking for work from those Blue Suns?" His voice was raspy, and coated in worry. His attitude was that of a paranoid small animal surrounded by predators._

_ "Something like that. Not your business, old man."_

_ "Don't take up that job, kid. It's a scam. A phony."_

_ Suddenly I had reason to listen to his banter. "What do you mean?"_

_ "That job they send mercs on? The space station in the Satent system? Doesn't exist. Never did. There isn't even anything of note in that system."_

_ "And you know this how?" I asked, wary of conspiracy theories._

_ "I was part of a frigate team hired in to do what they always ask. Kill some guy, grab some cargo, it didn't matter. When we arrived, we dropped out of FTL a bit too close to the system. An error, but we were close enough to find out that there was no space station. Just as we turned to leave, we were ambushed by an unknown group. Our kinetic barriers just barely held long enough for us to hit FTL and get out of there."_

_ "Sounds familiar. Where's the rest of your team?"_

_ "I went to grab some grub for all the guys, and they went to 'have a word' with the Blue Suns recruiters. When I came back, I found their shot-up bodies being hauled off to be jettisoned into space. They killed them, boy. When they found out there were survivors, they killed them! Only reason I'm alive is because they don't know I was there!"_

_ I felt so many red flags and heard mental sirens going off everywhere right then. I think it showed because the man's reaction changed as well. To one of pity._

_ "Run, boy! Save your friend if you can and get off of Omega!"_

_ I was already running full tilt before he even finished. The door to the recruiters' room wasn't exactly five meters away. Of course, the crowds just happened to be particularly thick that night, so for all my frantic yelling, shoving and running, I wasn't moving as fast as I needed to be. I increased my mass so that I could shove my way through the crowds easier. I think I knocked a couple of krogan over, too, but I was gone before they could retaliate._

_ Panic was trying to seep its way into my mind, but I shoved it aside for a need to be fully functional when I got there. All I knew is that I couldn't move fast enough. I was already gathering more dark energy to me in preparation for some sort of gunfight to break out, but Nor left her pistol on the ship. Finally, I shoved passed the short line outside and hit the panel on the door._

_ It swooshed open and I came to a skidding stop inside with Nor right in front of me facing the Blue Suns on the other side of the room. Before I even had the slightest chance to react, I heard Nor scream out 'No!' and felt a dense and warm spray of liquid across my face. Red liquid. My eyes instinctively shut to keep the foreign substance from getting in._

"Oh, Keelah," Arla muttered under her breath.

_ After my eyes opened again, I saw Nor dropping to the floor in slow motion with a massive hole blown through her torso. I think I was in shock during those everlasting few seconds as she fell limp to the ground. I hadn't even realized that I was still gathering dark energy to myself, to a dangerous degree. I finally looked up from Nor's lifeless body to look the Blue Suns in the eye. The door had since shut behind me._

_ "Hey, that's one of the other kids we sent. He made it back too?" One of the batarian mercs in the rear stated. "Kill him too before this gets out of hand. We need to find out why people are getting back."_

_ The merc up front, a turian donning the standard Blue Suns hardsuit and wielding a heavily modified shotgun, smirked at me as he raised the gun to fire again. I must have had a huge amount of pent up energy, because when I went to use it to send all of their weapons to the ceiling, I ended up sending **everything**_. _Mercs, guns, tables, containers – all of it crashed violently on the ceiling and stuck there. As surprised as I was to see that, I still had a focus. I used a pull on the turian with the shotgun, and as he flew at me, I stretched out my arm to the side and I countered all of his velocity with an enraged stab in his chest with my blade. I saw the tip punch clean through the other side before I threw him to the ground. Still racked with pain and rage from Nor's death, I grabbed the shotgun and gunned every single one of them down while they were pinned helpless on the ceiling._

_ All except the last one, who fell to the floor and was pinned under a heavy ammo crate when the dark energy lift ceased. This one, the one who ordered the kill, had a special place in my heart._

_ "I want your ship, your creds and an apology," I demanded. Not like I couldn't just take it._

_ The batarian let out a pained laugh. "What makes you think I'll give any of that to you? Get out of here, kid, before my boss finds out what you just pulled."_

_ I lifted one index finger and brought it parallel to the front of his face. "You see this? I'm going to use this until you comply."_

_ He seemed unphased and laughed again as though I was but a mere child having a temper tantrum. "If you want to threaten me, at least give me something to worry about."_

_ And so I did as he asked, the nice guy that I am. Reaching back to where his armored legs were, I pointed down at his lower shin with that same finger. Using dark energy to execute a highly concentrated push, I thrust my finger downward where it was stopped by the armor, at least until the push was released. His armor crumpled and he experienced a very localized and destructive fracture of his leg bone where my push had impacted._

_ The batarian howled in pain. Disinterested in his noise, I looked back to his face and made my intentions clear. "Until. You. Comply. I could do that three more times to that bone before it turns to powder, and you have a lot of bones."_

_ He resisted at first, but after the third impact, he was willing to acquiesce. He gave me all I asked for, apologized and begged for me to stop. I simply stood up, looked him in his teary four eyes, and spoke._

_ "I'll stop when you bring Nor back."_

_ He only stayed conscious for about four more impacts. Once he was out, I used dark energy to violently lift and shove him into a nearby wall. There was no chance, as mutilated as he was after that, that he was still alive. Taking everything I wanted, I went to their ship and left._

_ "_So that's my long story. Though, I guess that might explain why I hate the Blue Suns more than what we were originally talking about. Oh well."

Kevin's tone was more than somber now. He stood up from his spot with an empty water container in his hand and he sighed. "Funny thing is, She was right. Letting her live really _did_ come back to bite me."

Arla didn't really know what to say. Sure her story was personal and it was a source of a lot of hurt, but she was able to push it aside. She doesn't look back on it anymore. Looking at the way simply telling this story pierced this human's near impenetrable emotional guard. . . She couldn't find any words appropriate for the current situation. Even more odd, she actually cared.

"I think I'm going to go lay down for a bit," Kevin said. "Guess today's combat really wore me out." He forced out a short laugh.

"Sure," Arla said with a nod. She decided asking him about the dark energy could wait until later.

Kevin looked down at the floor for one moment and then headed out with casual strides. It was different somehow from his normal showy walk, though. Once he exited, Arla stood.

"So that's why you have a soft spot for quarians," she said to herself.

Overall, she was more surprised that he could feel anything at all. He always came across as the kind of guy that never gave a crap about emotional response. He carried himself well enough to make it convincing, too. To think he ever had feelings for anyone was joke until now. At least now she knew that he really did have a soft spot, and it wasn't just some way to dodge questions or mask ulterior motives. Regardless, that last thing she expected was the story he gave. Perhaps there was actually more to that human than it seemed.

Arla shook her head as she made her way to the door. "Get yourself together, girl. Go find the captain. She'll think of something to distract you."


	22. Chapter 21

_**Chapter 21**_

Kevin paced back and forth on the lower level of his room lightly banging a fisted right hand against his visor. He must have sighed heavily at least eight times already. The amount of unrest within shocked even himself.

"What was that, Kevin? '_Now it's your turn for story time!_' Gotta be kidding me."

He stopped pacing only long enough to punch the back of the long couch. His frustration level was higher than normal, and all because of the way he handled himself in front of Arla. He hadn't told the story of Nor's death to anyone. Not even Tarsil. It was supposed to be his own personal burden, something he'd carry with him to his death. The only fissure in his emotional walls. And he just revealed the cracks to a quarian who beat him at his own game.

"Guess you're out of the bag, Nor. Happy now? You better be. I almost cracked back there."

He sat down on the couch with both hands on his visor. He let out one last sigh and he calmed his breathing. After a brief moment of stillness, he looked up at the blank vid screen and talked at it. "Swore I'd never let myself get worked up like that again. So much for that. The whole ship probably knows now. I don't even know what I'm more upset at, Nor. The fact that I almost lost it in front of Arla, or the fact that you're getting into my head again."

Kevin shook his head. He knew he was being childish with all this fussing, but he still couldn't shake the aggravation. Another few minutes of silence passed by before he stood up.

"Alright, enough of this crap. Time to be the tough guy again. Besides, I have an ice-breaker party to set up for Ralik. That should at least provide _everyone_ with ample distraction."

The need for sleep was nagging at the back of his mind, trying to coat him in fatigue. He wasn't having any of it, though. That recent internal storm left him high-strung, and he wanted to get everyone to loosen up before he slept, regardless. Forcing the weariness to the unseen reaches of his mind, he stepped through the normally locked go-to door into the entertainment room from the master quarters.

Inside the entertainment room, something caught his eye. It was his armor, but it wasn't where he had left it all. It was neatly arrayed by the door rather than haphazardly piled in a corner. He shook his head upon realizing that he left his armor off as well as the fact the forgot about it, but smiled at the fact that Arla actually bothered to do that for him. He walked over to the pieces and started to put them on. As expected, he had some trouble getting them on, but he _was_ able to get them all on by himself.

He paused a minute to think. The idea he hatched while talking with Ralik was simple, yet effective. He would bring Club Kellius to its full potential and invite all his shipmates. That's right, he was going to host his own dance party. Judging by what Bela said days ago, they all enjoyed some level of that sort of atmosphere. Kevin didn't know if Ralik did or not, but the salarian would have to loosen up one way or another if he wanted to get a chance to socialize with his shipmates, and close-knit cooperative work was always important on deep space runs, especially if there were enemies involved. This, to him, seemed like one of the easiest ways to allow that to happen.

Fortunately, the setup would be simple. A well-mixed playlist, good lighting, cold drinks and participants was all he would need. The first two things could be taken care of without even leaving the room. The drinks he would have to gather from the mess hall, and the participants could easily be assembled by ship intercom. Without a moment of hesitation, Kevin manned the entertainment room's controls and started selecting songs that would mix will together, as well as assign pre-programmed lighting schemes and intensities that he figured would best fit the mood of each song. He had already witnessed this system's ability to blend everything together well, so the amount of work required to get it ready was nice and light. One last touch was to add an intro suitable to what he thought would be the start of the party.

When he was finished, his playlist easily exceeded fifteen hours of music – more than enough for all of them to wear themselves out. He took a few minutes to go over it all, making sure the progression was to his liking and the lighting sets worked well, and then clapped his three-fingered hands together.

"Now to get some spirits." Kevin said, happily distracted with having a small project to work on for the time being. He stepped down from the music station and headed out the door. As he was in the process of making the short trip to the mess hall, he saw the captain walking towards him from the other side of the hall. He wasn't really interested in talking to anyone right now, but taking an abrupt right to head down a deck to avoid her would most likely only increase his chances of running into someone he didn't want to talk tomore than Siri. She was slightly turned to head down a deck via the stairs on the far end of the hall, but opted to continue down the hallway when she spotted Kevin. Too late.  
Kevin quickly shook off all of the evidence of his recent fit so that he could talk to his captain good and proper. He had already given himself away once, he wasn't going to let his internal struggles get the better of him a second time.

"Kevin!" She called to him as she trotted her way over to him.

Kevin was halfway inside the door to the mess hall when she reached him. "Oh, hey captain."

Siri paused as they stepped into the mess hall. "What are you up to?" she asked, curious and wary.

"What makes you think I'm 'up to something'? I'm just grabbing a drink."

"Remember, captain's intuition," Siri confidently said, waving a single finger back and forth.

"Playing that card again?" He asked as he reached the refrigerator where the drinks – both alcoholic and non – were stored. Upon opening it, he found a sufficiently large variety of high quality drinks.

"Call it what you want, but the fact of the matter is that I caught you doing something," she said as she leaned against the nearest stove.

"You caught me, what, grabbing a drink?" he said as he turned around with several bottles in his hands. Obviously far more drink than any one human would want to consume.

"_A_ drink?" She laughed. "You're either suicidal, or expecting a lot of drinking buddies."

"Let's, _hypothetically_, say the latter."

"Then I would have to question where you plan on getting all these drinking buddies, since those kinds of drinks have levo-proteins in them."

"They do, but with these ones it should be negligible, even for quarians. You've probably only seen the lesser quality drinks. Less refined ones have more, but these are insanely expensive and have gone through equally insane amounts of filtering and prep, with the amount of proteins dropping through each cycle."

"That's assuming, of course, that people even show up to your little drinking social."

"Not a drinking social, actually. The drinks are more of a detail than a major part." Kevin put the bottles he held down on a table while he went back to see what else he could find.

"I knew you were up to something."

"That said, can you help me find drinks you guys brought along suitable for parties and fun times?"

Siri thought for a few seconds. "We do have some drinks traditionally suited for good times, but they aren't alcoholic. The admiralty board generally doesn't allow our home-grown plant-based drinks to be sent along for deep space missions. They'd rather keep it for themselves!"

"Well, what if we mixed your drinks with these?" Kevin suggested. "The proteins would become even more diluted and you could get the loosening up effect that you can't get with your stock drinks. As long as we point out that they've been spiked, I don't think the others will care too much."

"You are sneaky, horrible man for suggesting that my marines need to 'loosen up'. I like that idea. So are you going to tell me why we're preparing drinks for everyone?"

Kevin smiled under his helmet. "I was just going to host some good times for all. Probably with some loud music and fancy lighting. You know, something people could dance to."

Siri performed a type of slow motion nod that tended to go along with 'Oh, I get it now'. "When?"

"As soon as possible, which is to say, as soon as I finish setting up. I just need to find the portable drink chiller, wherever it is. There's a ninety percent chance that Linus would have one around here somewhere. . ."

"Who's Linus?" she innocently asked.

Kevin played it off like he didn't hear her and continued his search for the chiller. Fortunately, he was right. There was one stored off to the side of the kitchen. It looked like a pushcart with a large covered metal box welded to it. It was draped in cloths to give it a more refined look and to hide the mess of drink-related accessories on a shelf below the box. Kevin opened the cover and peeked inside. It was only deep enough to account for the tallest typical wine bottle, and contained scores of modular dividers that could be added or removed to accommodate varying bottle widths.

"Score. Found it." Kevin smirked and rolled the chiller away from the kitchen and next to the table where he had placed the bottles.

Meanwhile, Siri was gathering the drinks she had previously mentioned and she set the sealed cylinders of quarian beverage next to the bottles. Once Kevin rolled the chiller over, he and Siri started placing the beverages in the divided metal box. He spotted a small switch on the side and flipped it. The chiller hummed to life and then the hum faded away as the machinery in the device harmonized.

Siri closed the cover on the chiller. "So why are you planning all this? Now? Arla told me you were sleeping."

Kevin froze. "Told you?"

"Yes. You and her had another sparring session?" She leaned in and tilted her head, wondering if there was something else she should mention.

"Right. I should have figured she'd report that to you."

"Am I missing something here?" she asked as she started pushing the chiller towards the door.

Kevin quickly bolted to the cabinets and returned a stack of nice looking but fragile glasses. "Nope. Just don't want people to get the wrong idea, is all." He separated the main stack into stacked pairs and placed them on the shelf under the cloth draped over the edges.

"You don't have to worry about that. We all know Arla and you have a mutual agreement. Now stop avoiding my question."

Kevin took the pushbar on the backside of the cart and started wheeling it towards the door. "I just want to provide everyone a chance to relax and have fun. We can't head out into this mission tense and on edge, that won't give us a lot of mental space for the real tension when we need to deal with it."

"A valid point," Siri said, falling into step with Kevin.

"Plus, Bela told me that you all enjoy a club slash dance setting, and I can actually deliver that."

"She told you that, did she?"

"Yeah, why?

"Well, I suppose it's true. We do enjoy a good party every now and again."

"Should I be prepping something else in addition?" Kevin asked with genuine curiosity.

"No no, I'm sure you have the bases covered. Bela told me you were well-versed in 'dancable atmosphere', whatever that means." She laughed and they stepped out into the hallway behind the chiller.

"What else do you guys enjoy doing?" Kevin asked.

"As a group or as individuals?" She counter-asked, turning her head towards him.

Kevin thought for a moment. The latter was something that might be more interesting to hear. "As individuals. You know, when you aren't busy shooting geth or fixing things."

"Well. . ." There was a pause in her speech as she compiled a list in her head. "Welkas is probably the most obvious. He likes to pilot. Even before he was on his pilgrimage he was asking to help with anything that required manual interaction to move. That's what I heard, anyways. Votis likes physically conditioning himself as much as he can. Also probably obvious."

"A pilot that likes to pilot and a soldier that likes exercise. Come on, captain. Where are the juicy details?"

Siri gave him a brief stare for interrupting. "Something less obvious about Votis? He likes emotionally moving vids. Watches them more than the rest of us."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Kevin confirmed with nod. He stopped pushing the cart so that Siri could activate the door panel for the entertainment room.

"Garloh likes to play instruments. He's quite adept at playing a couple of traditional quarian acoustic instruments, and he was recently looking into a couple older human instruments on the extranet as well. A string gewit-ter or something. Bela likes, as you have already seen, to party, flirt and the like. What you probably haven't noticed, though, is that she's one of the best quarian singers I've ever heard."

"She sings? Have to admit, I didn't see that coming."

"Mmhmm. Loves it, too. Tosh is a little more expected, I think. He's a gamer. He has a large variety of games installed on his omni-tool for whenever he has downtime, which is to say, not very often these days. Interestingly enough, I think he likes playing with the developer toolkits and game editors more than he likes some of the games he plays."

"An engineer to every end, it seems."

"Indeed. Arla, believe it or not, is an incredible dancer-"

"Oh, I believe that," Kevin said without thinking.

Siri turned to look at him, not for interrupting, but because of his statement. She stared at him as if trying to read his mind.

"Wh-what?" he asked, a bit creeped out by the sudden stare-down.

"How would you guess that? Arla keeps that little detail tied and stored away."

Kevin stumbled a bit as he tried to defend himself. "I've. . . I've seen the way she moves. She. . . She has a very interesting fluidity to her motions."

Siri tilted her head and Kevin quickly realized that he wasn't helping himself.

"Hey, look, I pay attention to _everything_ when I train someone for combat. Even the way she pivots her joints. Elbows, shoulders, knees, hips- Er. You get the point. All I'm saying is that she's not a rigid fighter."

Siri remained still and silent, ever increasing the awkwardness of the moment.

"Come on, tell me that didn't sound as bad as it did. I'm beginning to think you just like to see me fidget in this suit."

"Perhaps. . ."

"Perhaps what? Perhaps it _did_ sound as bad? Perhaps you _do_ like to see me squirm?"

Siri returned to a more normal stance and leaned on the side of the chiller. Kevin really wished he could read her face. It would make it easier for him to understand her ploy. Kevin, with a lack of better social options at his disposal, decided a quick de-railing to a different topic would ease things a bit.

"So why does Arla keep something like that under wraps, so to speak? If she's as good as you say she is, wouldn't her pride want that out in the open?"

"Of course it would, but it's a little different than that. You see, Kevin, dancers are held in very high esteem in our culture. Not just your average 'go to the club and dance' kind of stuff, either. She likes dancing in both a traditional quarian sense, as well as modern partying as well."

"I'm still not seeing why she'd hide this," Kevin stated, folding his arms.

"She doesn't want to be recognized for her ability to dance, Kevin. She'd rather be recognized for her ability to fight, to hold her own. Since fighters aren't typically held as high as dancers in our culture, if her natural abilities as a dancer were made known to more people, it would quickly overshadow all the work she put into being the marine she is today."

"I think I get it now. So why tell me?"

"A couple reasons. One is that you're a human. Your culture doesn't automatically put good dancers on a metaphorical pedestal, especially when it comes to military tactics. Second, you're now her squadmate. All of the marines know, and they all know how hard each of them has worked to get where they are. It would be a hugely dishonorable thing to do to go around telling everyone about it, so they know not to. Now that you're one of us, you know as well."

"Fair enough. So what about you, Siri? What do you like to do?"

"I like to make sure that all of my subordinates are in top shape, ready for combat, knowledgeable in the things of life learned though experience and. . . Content."

There was a moment of silence between the two.

"That's so cliché, captain," Kevin said mixed with a chuckle.

"I know, isn't it? One day, you will learn a thing or two about clichés. For now, though, I'll just let it be. I _should_ turn the question on you, but I suspect you're ready to call in your patrons."

"That I am."

"I'll head down a deck and make it seem like I'm doing something important."

"Don't be late."

Siri headed out of the entertainment room and the door shut behind her. Kevin took this moment to place the drinks strategically – near the wall halfway across the room opposite the equipment booth. It was next to a couch and off to the side, but not so far out of the way that no one would notice it. All that was left to do was preemptively set the ambient lighting, set up the equipment to play and call everyone up. A few quick adjustments on the controls brought the light within the room down to a fairly dark point saturated with a deep blue. He set the music to his playlist and made ready to play just before he headed out of the room and towards the bridge. On his way up, he called upon the shipwide assistant.

"Terra, relay all emergency notices and warnings to the entertainment room, and make sure you cut the sound if need be."

"Acknowledged." The fact that Terra acknowledged his command must have meant that Tosh fixed his profile in the VI core.

"Remember, _only_ emergencies."

"Importance filter has already been set to maximum."

"Can't you at least play along once in a while? You know, make it _seem_ like you have a personality?"

"This VI does not have sufficient programming to emulate complex sapient interaction."

Kevin shook his head and continued forwards.

In the bridge, Kevin expectedly found Kar'Welkas working the controls. A quick peek out the viewport suggested that they were in the finishing stages of a discharge cycle. Kar looked up to Kevin from his seat, this time without being startled by his presence.

"Oh, hi, sir! I'm just finishing up this discharge before I run some more optimizations for the flight controls," he said as he looked back to the nice view of the ship-created aurora mixed with flashes of dancing bolts of electricity.

"How are things up here, Kar? Haven't really had chance to see how you were settling in."

"Good! I think. I was noticing some fluctuations in the-"

"That's great, Kar. Good to see you're handling the Kellius like your own flesh and blood."

"Of course, sir. Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Mind if I borrow the ship-wide intercom for a sec?"

"By all means."

Kevin leaned over one of the terminals just to the side of the main one that the pilot used. Kar hit a button on his interface and motioned for Kevin to go ahead.

"Attention all hands. There is an urgent matter that requires all of you to be in attendance. Yes, Ralik, that also means you. For the sake of space, we will be meeting in the entertainment room. That is all."

"Sounds pretty important," Kar said passively.

"You could say that."

"Am I supposed to be there too?"

"If I'm not letting Ralik off the hook, that means I'm not letting you off the hook either. Soon as you're done discharging and you get the Kellius back on the path, I want to see you in there."

"But- My optimizations?"

"Trust me, they can wait."

Kar sighed. "Understood."

Kevin turned and walked away from the bridge. He was glad, if not surprised, that Kar didn't even argue Kevin's assumption of authority. It would have made that entire conversation more difficult if he had. He was fairly certain that Kar would forget about that once he got to Club Kellius, though.

Kevin, being the first person to step into the room, headed straight for the control podium. He had an introductory setup that required timing and precise execution and he had to be ready to perform. He kept the lights dim and pulled up from the underside of the controls-laden desk what could only be called a 'classic' DJ microphone. He had seen it before, and even now he still considered it quaint. Despite that, it seemed to fit the mood he was about to set, and he only needed to use it once.

The door opened and several quarians strolled in, talking amongst themselves. They were Bela, Riik, Tyr, and Tosh. Soon after they moved into the center of the room, Ralik stepped in as well.

"Why is it so blasted dark in here?" Riik asked.

"You will see in a moment," Kevin responded, keeping the mic out of sight. "We just need everyone to be here."

Within moments, Siri and Arla stepped in as well, followed closely behind by Kar. Now that everyone had arrived, he could begin. At this point, it was all dependent on their moods, whether or not they were up for this sort of surprise. He hoped to God they all were, not just for the sake of the enjoyment of the others, but so he wouldn't look like an idiot standing up there.

They all sparsely congregated together in the middle of the room, looking up at him. The first thing he did was roll back the opaque flooring so that the in-floor lighting could be used. With any luck, no one would notice until he began in a few seconds. Thankfully, none of them did.

He started the first song at zero volume. He knew the song well enough in his head to match the song with the precise timing. On the four walled screens, he called up a digitized rendition of empty space, but with the stars – small white dots with small lens flares – far closer together than in any part of the galaxy. It was for effect, as a true example of open space would be boring. They began to move all at once, as if the room was quickly hurtling through space without the obscuring blueshifted distortions of FTL and the walls were viewports.

"I have called you all here for one reason," Kevin said over the sound emitters. The others looked at each other in confusion.

He started to raise the sound up in volume. First slowly, then with a sudden rise to typical club-level. As the peak of the volume increase hit, the airy, light sounds of the introduction of the song ended abruptly with a heartstopping kick.

"I have called you all here for one reason," spoke a human male's voice over the emitters. It wasn't Kevin – it was much deeper and was accompanied by a resounding echo.

In the background, some slow, timely beats were creeping up in volume. Those on the floor were now looking around instead of at each other, more confused than they were less than a minute ago. The stars' movement was slowly gaining speed and they began to stretch ever so slightly.

"To bring you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy," said the deep voice. Still the volume of the background beats continued to rise. Now what was background music was slowly becoming the dominating sound of the room couple with white noise made to sound like something was revving up.

"We don't need a wormhole or a rift. . ." Now the beats and white noise were matched in volume and still rising.

Below the onlookers, a collection of lights pointed straight up started to glow white and grow in intensity with the song. The quarians and Ralik all backed up towards the wall where the drinks were left upon sudden realization that the floor they were standing on was not a floor, but a window of sorts.

"We only need to do one thing:" The beats were fast and the white noise was reaching it's peak pitch. The 'stars' surrounding them had stretched out to become lines whizzing by them at fast speeds. In the direction of where the room was supposedly heading, a light blue glow had appeared and was quickly taking over the room.

Suddenly, the music ceased in perfect rhythm and the room was overtaken by the white light from the floor and the blue glow from the walls.

"Blueshift," was the calm and collected declaration over the emitters, which sparked a very different reaction from the room's systems.

Suddenly the lights in the ceiling and floor were in full dance track mode, pulsing, moving and generating colors all over the place. The blue glow on the walls had transformed from the classic look of FTL blueshifted energy to an over-dramatized, but very nice looking blue energy tunnel. At the same time as all of this, the emitters erupted in a furious wave of sound. Pounding bass, melodic synths and a well-mastered mix of other harmonizing sounds filled the room as the song burst into its epic, full form.

The quarians (and Ralik) were all taken aback by what just happened. Not in the sense that they were struck with awe by what happened, but more than the last thing they were expecting upon entering this room was to be faced with the scene that had just unfolded. They went from 'urgent matter' to 'dance music' in a little over two minutes.

Kevin dismounted his high position on the podium now that everything from here on was already set and automatic. He walked on over to the group backed up against the wall with his arms straight out to his sides in introduction.

"What is all this?" Tyr shouted, his voice fighting desperately to be heard above the music.

"I welcome you all to Club Kellius!" Kevin shouted back. Colored lights and laser shows reflected off of his pauldrons and other armor pieces, giving him a pulsing outline.

Bela, who was practically bouncing in place with the music in excitement leapt forward to give Kevin a hug. "Kevin, I think I love you! This is awesome!"

"If you feel you're too tense, there are drinks right behind you to help you loosen up." Kevin smirked, only realize afterwards that they couldn't see him smirk.

"Not bad, Folner!" Tosh shouted as he reached for the chiller and looked at its contents. "You even brought our celebratory drinks! How. . .?"

"Don't ask questions, just enjoy!" Kevin said.

Hesitantly, they crowded around the chiller and grabbed cylinders. Riik noticed the other, more alcoholic beverages and pulled one out. "Folner, what are these?"

"Human-brewed spirits! High quality stuff! Filtered so many times that the amount of levo-proteins in it are negligible!"

"I like your thinking! I think I'll just have to play the test subject this time!"

Kevin nodded and gestured toward the cups. Without any more hesitation, Riik poured a fifty/fifty mix into his cup, gave it a good swirl and flipped his tube down. He dipped the end of his tube into the beverage and took some in, giving his suit a moment to analyze the intake. He nodded and pounded his chest with a fist indicating both that the drink was safe to consume and that it was fairly strong.

"You lightweights better go easy on the spirits," Riik said over the in-suit comms to avoid fighting with the music. "This stuff is strong. Safe, but strong."

The others looked to what he was talking about and quickly noticed that he mixed his traditional quarian drink with other bottled one.

"Thank Keelah," Tyr said after trying it for himself. "I haven't had a good one like this for years. You did alright, Folner."

Everyone but Kevin and Ralik had their go at some amount of the mixed drinks. The two that didn't preferred to go without the quarian drink and just settled for a cup of alcoholic beverage.

Siri raised her glass. "I believe it is human tradition to have a toast, yes?"

"Go for it captain, let's hear it!" Kevin edge on as everyone gathered in a circle.

Siri paused for a minute and then leaned in with her raised glass. "To the Forverna. To those who we continue on for."

Kevin continued her toast. "To the secrets behind that relay."

Riik next. "To The Migrant Fleet."

Lastly, Bela. "To having a great time in a ridiculously small ship!"

Everyone nodded and laughed before the circle of glasses came together with a piercing _clink_ that rose above the loud music. Each took their respective swigs and the circle broke its formation. As everyone went to do their thing, Siri approached Kevin.

"You always did like to make an entrance," she said, sipping her drink. "You did good this time, Kevin."

"Does that mean you're going to dance?" he asked with an elbow jab to her arm.

"I. . . think I'm going to finish my drink first," she said as she motioned her near full glass to Kevin.

"Suit yourself. You're the captain."

At that moment, the song had finished mixing in to number two and a new bassline took over the emitters before allowing the rest of the parts to join. Just as Kevin started bobbing his head, a hand grabbed his arm.

"I know this song, I know this song! Come on Folner, I owe you a dance for this!" Bela shouted. Siri preemptively took the cup from Kevin's hand as he was pulled from his place to the center of the dance floor to join Kar.

As Kevin joined in the festivities at the center of the room, he peeked over to see further reactions from the others. From here it just looked like they were chatting over a drink, and Ralik was actually in on the conversation this time. That was better than any of them leaving, at least.

A few songs later, Kar, Bela and Kevin were still the only ones on the dance floor. As the current song ended, Bela caught Kevin's attention and motioned over towards the collection of non-moving bodies.

"I think they need our help!" she shouted.

"I agree. Got a plan?"

"I'll grab Garloh and you grab the captain! They're the oldest, and they need to be reeducated in how to have a good time!"

Kevin nodded in agreement and they both looked upon their quarry with predatory focus. As the new song mixed in, Bela gestured to Kar to hold still for a minute and she and Kevin made their way over to the group. The two that were about to be had did not notice the approaching pair, since they were facing away from the dance floor while talking. While Bela worked on convincing the Chief to dance, Kevin slipped just behind and to the side of Siri. She still had a drink in her hand, but that was a simple obstacle to overcome. He casually reached around her, took the glass from her hand and set it down on one of the small tables juxtaposed to the couch.

Siri gave Kevin a false confused stare – she knew that he knew that she knew what he was about to do. Kevin understood, from her earlier hesitation, that she was unsure about the dance floor. Maybe it had been quite some time since she had tried. With that in mind, Kevin decided to forgo giving her the illusion of choice and he made the decision for her. He took her hand and pulled her to the center of the room, almost perfectly timed with Bela's attempts with Tyr. Siri resisted at first, but it wasn't much of a resistance at all and Kevin barely had to put forth effort to get her out on the dance floor.

"Alright, Folner, you got me out here. I suppose that means you want me to dance?"

"But of course. Come on, you can't seriously tell me that you don't know how to have a good time with your crew, can you?" He smirked out of habit.

Siri slouched briefly as she gave in, but it wasn't a slouch of negativity or exasperation. Merely a visual sign that she had willingly given up trying to fight it. "Alright, but I warn you, it's been a while since I've done this!"

Kevin looked over to Bela and Tyr, and she had somehow managed to get Tyr dancing long before Kevin and Siri. Regardless, now Siri and Tyr were a part of the main focus of the party. He stole a look over towards the remaining four, noticing that the chatters now broke into two groups. Arla and Riik in one and Tosh and Ralik in the other. He decided to let them be for now, at least for a few more songs. He wanted to be able to enjoy this too.

About five songs later, the four off to the side were still there. It was evident, though, that the music was getting to them. Each was showing some manifestation of their enjoyment of it – whether it was a tapping foot, bobbing head or a tapping finger. Again, Bela approached Kevin.

"Looks like we have to do _all_ the work tonight, Kevin!" she yelled. "Thing is, I'm not willing to wait around for them anymore! It's not a full on dance party until we get everyone moving! I'll get Rolush, you get your salarian friend, deal?"

"On it!" Kevin shouted back as they simultaneously walked over to Tosh and Ralik.

"Oh look," Tosh said, "the 'fun brigade' is here to take us away." His voice was so neutral that he sounded disinterested. To Kevin's surprise, however, Tosh propped out his elbow for Bela to hook on to. She latched her arm around it without hesitation and they both headed to the dance floor where the rest of the party-goers were.

"Well that was unexpected," Kevin said, turning his attention back to Ralik. "Alright, your turn."

Ralik's expression went from placid to stark unprepared. "What, me? Come now, Kevin, I appreciate what you're doing here for me, giving me this chance to mingle and such. But really, that's not necessary."

"What's the matter, Ralik? Can't dance?"

"Well, I _can_, but. . ."

"But nothing." Kevin moved around behind Ralik and leaned his weight into the salarian so that he was forced to slowly stumble towards the center of the room.

"Kevin, no! Kevin, remember, I can't-"

"Yeah, I know. But you don't need mental preparation to dance and have a great time, Ralik. Trust me on this, alright?" He would have winked, but that would have proved pointless if Ralik couldn't see his eyes.

Ralik continued to fight him, but he also continued to be moved towards the crowd. Kevin knew that if Ralik _really_ did not want to try, he'd be in a bit of trouble. Salarian STG operatives were deadly fast at close range, even for him. Inch by inch, however, Ralik allowed himself to be pushed into the dancing mass of quarians. Once the push was successful, Ralik sighed.

"Blasted human, you're stubborn," Ralik said with a lighthearted tone. He hung his head for about a second before he let the consistent and enjoyable beat of the music rule his movements.

"There we go, big guy. _Now_ you're mingling." Kevin patted Ralik on the back and smiled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Siri pulling Riik to the floor as well. That left one person standing on the outskirts of the pulsing room. She looked disappointed at having her conversational partner removed from her, but she did not follow. She stayed on the outside of the room. Kevin, again decided to leave it be for the moment. He was more interested to see if she'd come over on her own or not. He had a hunch that her pride wouldn't let her.

As the next, fast-paced song progressed, he occasionally looked to see if she was still there. He didn't want to send someone, but he didn't want her to leave, either. Each time he looked, she was there, standing by herself, looking more and more out of place each time. As the next song mixed in, a heavy kick and chorus-like synths jutted their way into foreground of sound. The bassline that started in resonated so deep that Kevin could feel his innards vibrating. It was at this point that the captain, not Bela, approached him.

"Kevin, I think Arla-"

"I know," he responded, cutting her off. He was already on his way from the crowd, too.

Kevin was right. Arla's pride wouldn't let her just walk over to the group of dancers on her own. He suspected that the thing Siri told him about her dancing had something to do with it too, but his suspicions weighed more heavily on her pride. Knowing a thing or two about pride himself, he knew that simply dragging her to the floor like he did with Siri was not going to work. This required a bit more finesse. When he stood in front of her, she looked up at him then immediately turned her head to look off to the side.

"Come to tell me to quit pouting?" she asked. To Kevin's ear, she was trying rather hard to sound firm and uncaring.

"So I hear you're quite the dancer," Kevin shouted. Maybe he was trying to sound suave. Whether he actually was or wasn't seemed to have been lost on Arla anyways.

Either way, it got Arla's attention quite well. Her head snapped to face him, then turned slightly to look at the crowd. "Hmm. I wonder who told you that," she said sarcastically.

"This is fortunate, really. I'm glad I was told."

"Why's that?"

"Because I was looking for someone who could dance with _me_." A gambit at appealing to her pride.

Arla paused, staring at him. "Why not Bela, or the captain?"

"Bela's a good _flirty_ dancer, but that's about it. And have you seen the captain dance? She's alright, but. . ." He winced. He suspected his emotion was more accessible by his tone.

Arla let out a snicker at Kevin's brief snipe at the captain. "Slick, Folner."

Kevin offered a hand towards her. "I generally only offer once, so if you make me ask again-"

Without saying a word, Arla agreed by placing her hand in his and walking to the dance floor with him. The captain shot a glance over, a move that Kevin found impossible for him to miss, and nodded in both approval and appreciation. With almost divine-like timing, a new song suddenly kicked in, the mix designed to switch immediately over to the next song since the intro relied on a lack of mixdown.

"_Now_ we have ourselves a dance party!" Bela cheered, unable to contain her excitement at having a full group of people to dance with this time.

And so began the full on dance party that Kevin was planning for. Finally the scene in front of him matched the scene he had set up in his mind – A bunch of quarians and a salarian all dancing and having a great time, Tyr and Siri dancing a bit oddly compared to everyone else, but no one seemed to mind, a great light show that washed out the fact that they were just in a square room on small ship while loud dance music pounded them from all directions – It was, in fact, good times had by all.

As Arla and Kevin started to dance among the others, Kevin became aware that Arla was holding herself back. She was a bit distant, dancing a small step away from everyone else. It didn't last long, however. The music caught up with her after a song or two and her natural skill at dancing became evident. What Kevin noticed then was something he wasn't expecting from her. She was a close body to body dancer, much like Maera was back on Omega. Interestingly enough, this was the form of dancing he knew the best and was most comfortable with, thanks to that asari. He didn't mind one bit, and even though he couldn't feel her the same way he used to be able to feel the skin contact of his dance partner, it didn't diminish the warming fact that he was finally able to dance body to body with someone once again. At the very least he was able to feel – not just see – the delicate, flowing, seamless motions her body followed as she danced.

Arla didn't seem to mind at all either. In fact, he could almost swear she enjoyed this more than he did.

Every now and then the group broke to go grab drinks. Everyone, being soldiers, was mindful of their intake so that they wouldn't overdo it. They were good, for people that didn't drink often, at keeping a light enough buzz to keep the fun and loose atmosphere. Once the drinking was done, they quickly filed back to the dance floor. Bela wasn't kidding when she said that they all enjoyed it. Even Ralik was having a great time, something Kevin hadn't seen from him since they left the Citadel. He could call this little plan he hatched a success.

Eventually, though, people began to get tired. Once one person showed signs of weariness, it began to spread like a hyper-virus. They all collectively decided when it was time to stop and give it a rest, and everyone expressed interest in getting some rack time right afterwards. The music continued, but the patrons were finally done. There was a single, multi-voiced wave of gratitude and thanks to Kevin for putting on the event. Everyone left as a group, except for Ralik who stayed behind.

"That went well, I think," Kevin said loudly.

Ralik silently nodded.

Kevin shot up to the equipment podium and shut the music and light show off. He brought the room back to its normal ambiance and shut the window cover under the floor. He caught a glance at the total playtime of his playlist, and it read that they had been dancing for almost six full hours. No wonder everyone was tired.

"Thanks," Ralik started. "You know, for doing all that for me."

"Getting mushy on me, Ralik," Kevin said as he continued to shut down some of the systems. "I wanted to have a dance party too, you know."

"Even still, I didn't think you were really going to assist me with personal matters of social inadequacies."

"We're friends, right?" Kevin finalized the shut down and stepped down to floor level. "That's what friends do. I just wanted to make it so I wasn't your only friend. That could get awkward, real fast."

Ralik chuckled in agreement and nodded. "So again, you have my thanks. Now, I'm going to go get some shut eye like the others. You should too, Kevin. You look ready to drop."

Kevin nodded. "I guess I am running a little ragged here. Wait, how can you tell?"

"There's more to a person than their face, Kevin. I think you learned that especially well tonight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kevin asked accusingly.

"Sleep well!" Ralik shout as he turned around to leave.

Kevin would normally pester him and rip the information out through persistence and nagging, but he was, as Ralik put it, ready to drop. Once the door closed behind Ralik, Kevin unlocked the 'secret door' to his room in the wall with his omni-tool and stepped in. He found that one of the good things about having an exosuit was that he never had to worry about changing into some sort of sleepwear, which he was also to tired to be bothered with. He flopped down on the bed.

Unfortunately, there was still pre-sleep maintenance to take care of. While the armor on his suit didn't bother him much, the pauldrons were impossible to sleep in. After taking them off and setting them on the table next to the bed, he fell back onto his bed and laid there. He had all but forgotten about that thing with Nor, and he was able to fall asleep within seconds.


	23. Chapter 22

_**Chapter 22**_

__"Are you going to fight me or what, Folner?" Arla asked as she approached in an offensive stance.

Kevin nodded and maintained a neutral stance of his own. He was having a bit of trouble tracking her movements, though that was hardly his fault. He had utilized the entertainment room's visual equipment to dim the ambient lighting and have quite a few lights flash quickly, change color and move around the room at random. The result was a mind-numbing mess of chaotic visual noise. It was a challenge for both of them, to practice under this kind of atmosphere. Tracking targets amongst a mess of other movements wasn't easy, and this was practice after all.

Arla and Kevin met halfway and engaged in a flurry of attacks and counterattacks. Interestingly, neither of them landed any hits at all, but it wasn't due to poor aim. They had become matched in skill level and neither could land a real blow. Her motions were a blur to him thanks to the atmosphere, but somehow he always knew where her next attack would come from as if he was tuning into her thoughts. That ability seemed mutual, of course. She dodged his just as he dodged hers.

That string of fruitless moves came to an end, though. Kevin landed a tightly clenched fist right in the center of her visor and the quarian immediately fell onto her back with a groan.

"God, that hurt!" she shouted angrily, her hands covering her visor.

"What, no 'Keelah!' this time?" Kevin mockingly asked, standing tall in his victory. He clapped his ungloved hands twice and the visual noise gave way to normal lighting.

"I think I should go get some medi-gel," she stated casually.

"You get a boo-boo and you need medi-gel? Come on."

Arla stood up and faced Kevin. Her visor was horribly cracked, a web of iridescent lines emanating from the point of impact.

"I don't think this is going to buff out," she said with laugh.

"My bad," Kevin said nonchalantly.

Arla pulled her helmet off and held it in front of her to examine the extent of the damage from the outside. Her head and face was deep purple, smooth, glossy and lacking in features, like a porcelain doll with an an unpainted head. She poked the crack in the helmet and the visor collapsed into shards falling to the floor. There was a light where her mouth was supposed to be that flashed intermittently when she spoke.

"Great. Now I'm going to die." Her tone denoted non-interest.

"You're such a whiner sometimes," Kevin said as he took a step towards her.

"Well, since that's useless, then I guess the rest is too." Arla tossed the helmet aside and looked at Kevin with a faint hue of red appearing on her smooth face. "Turn around, you can't look!"

Kevin sighed in exasperation and turned around as instructed. Less than a few seconds of staring at a wall later, she told him he could look. He did, and he bore witness to a body that matched her head and face – glossy, smooth and featureless. Even still, he felt anxious.

Arla walked over to him and stood face to face. Kevin, who had been in his old casual alliance uniform this whole time reached a hand up and cupped it around the back of her head so that his thumb could stroke her cheek. She looked up at him and tilted her head.

"Ugh. I feel sick," she said.

Before Kevin could respond with a witty statement, he saw her face and head start to bleed wherever he touched her. Kevin retracted his had in alarm, but the bleeding spread in the form of nonexistent wounds and punctures. Kevin quickly backed the heck up as far as he could go.

"What's wrong?" she asked without a care in the world.

"You're infected!" Kevin shouted. "You need immunoboosters!"

"It's not that bad yet. Is it?"

Kevin shook his head and accidentally triggered the door panel he had backed up into, which resulted in him falling backwards onto the floor of the master quarters. Arla started to walk towards him as if she were about to embrace him, but stopped suddenly when Kevin heard footsteps from behind him. A three-fingered hand reached down and helped Kevin to his feet.

"Who's she, Kevin?" Nor asked him.

Suddenly, Kevin felt trapped. This was not a good situation at all.

"Who're you?" Arla asked the quarian helping Kevin up.

Kevin lifted his finger to speak, but he was cut off before he even started by Nor's horrified realization.

"You. . . You touched her! Kevin? Why did you touch her?"

He couldn't tell if she was horrified at the aspect of him touching Arla instead of her, or the fact that he probably just killed Arla.

"I. . . I just. . ." Kevin couldn't get any of his thoughts straight. When he looked back to see Arla, he didn't see her there – in her place was Ralik, launching a fist at his face.

When Kevin woke up, his breathing was heavy. It was easy to tell since he could always hear it whenever it was faster or deeper than a normal breath. He sat upright very quickly, instinctively tossing off blankets that weren't on him. He looked around his room – it was as empty as it always was. He took a deep breath and smacked his visor with a fist a few times.

"GOD that was creepy," he announced to the silence. "Nightmares? Who even _has_ nightmares anymore? That stuff is for the vids."

Kevin calmed himself down by turning his body and stepping off his bed. Instead of the cold metal floor, his feet were greeted by the warm soles of his perpetually mounted boots. Normally this would be an excellent time to take a shower, but. . . He didn't need to anymore. He let the visor of his helmet rest in one of his hands and stroked in an attempt to massage his face. As usual, this act was pointless.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't drink _that_ much last night," he told himself.

He looked at the clock and it read that he had been sleeping for about eight hours. His stomach growled at him, audible even through the suit. Kevin wasn't going to waste much time with food on the mind, so he reached over to the table next to his bed and grabbed his pauldrons. With a final sigh, he attached the armor pieces and headed out the normal door to get some breakfast in the mess hall. As he sat down to eat, Tosh strolled in. Kevin guessed he had the same agenda.

"Morning," Kevin said with a brief, weary gesture towards Tosh.

"The time is eighteen seventy-five, galactic standard. Technically, it's late into the evening," Tosh analytically replied.

"Technically, we're not in citadel space, either. Come on, Tosh, lighten up. I'm pretty sure everyone on the ship went to sleep at the same time."

"A valid point," the quarian said with a lightened tone as he rummaged through the stores of dextro-protein based foods in the kitchen. He pulled out a sealed package, examined it and took it over to the table across from where Kevin sat.

"So what did everyone think of last night?" Kevin asked between 'sips'.

"I'm fairly certain everyone had a great time. To be honest, I found that a tad unexpected of you."

Kevin snickered. "Well, if you knew me, you'd actually find something like that pretty typical."

"Is that so? Well, then, it seems I'm simply going to have to strive to know you better. Unknown variables, after all, are just begging to be understood."

"So I'm an unknown variable? Wow. And I thought multi-billion credit corporations were good at viewing people as numbers."

"I'm not a complicated person, Folner. Not to myself, not to anyone else. I am certain that as we experience things together as squadmates, one of the first things you'll learn about me is that I am. . ."

"Blunt?" Kevin said jokingly.

"Yes, but not just to be blunt. I consider it a bi-product of working with technology so much. Digital interfaces present information as it is, not as someone might want it to be. I do the same. To say you are an unknown variable merely means that I don't know you that well, and on that, I'm sure the feeling is mutual."

"True."

"Mathematics has, since the beginning of understanding, striven to find the answer to all unknown variables. To find an unknown variable in the form of a person conveys a curiosity. An interest in finding out."

"So in layman's terms, it was a compliment."

"Sure," Tosh said as he sat back and worked on his own breakfast.

"Works for me," Kevin concluded as he finished off his food. "I noticed you and Ralik were getting along quite well last night."

"Likewise for you and Lieutenant Tavval."

Kevin ignored that.

Tosh continued. "I find that Dolannus and I have a common scientific curiosity for the unknown. I'm not exactly one to be talking about rigid exteriors, but once you get passed his, he's fairly enjoyable company. Not to mention he understands me when I talk about cutting edge modern theories and such."

Kevin gave him a brief look.

"I wasn't calling anyone else unintelligent. It's not a matter of intelligence, it is a matter of interest."

"I figured as much. Anyways, that's good. I was hoping Ralik could find someone else to pester besides me."

"Then I have fallen into a trap," Tosh pointed out.

Kevin smiled. "Welcome aboard, Tosh."

Tosh chuckled and bounced a finger pointed at Kevin up and down. "Oh, this reminds me. Don't ask me how, because I don't feel like taking the time to explain. When you have a moment, I'd like to show you something down in the VI core room."

"I've got time right now."

"You do? That would mean Tavval hasn't contacted you about the daily training I understand you two have resumed."

"No she hasn't. I was under the impression she was still sleeping."

"Regardless, let's make our way to the VI core."

"Right behind you."

Tosh and Kevin both tossed their trash down the mess chute and headed out into the hall. They passed by the captain on their way towards the stairs, but she simply acknowledged them instead of stopping to chat. Before they had even gone down to the second deck, Tosh had already begun.

"Did you know that the Kellius is equipped with hull refrigeration and emission collection sinks?"

"I do remember seeing something like that when I first detailed the hardware configuration. Still don't know what they're for, though."

"They're part of a complex system integrated into the ship." He paused as they stepped into the VI core room.

"What kind of ship system would use hull coolers and emission collection? Those don't seem to be hugely related."

"It's called the Internal Emission Sink, or IES, Stealth System. It cools the hull and captures the various emissions a ship creates to essentially make it invisible to everything except a visual scan. You may not have heard of it before, but you've probably heard of the ship that piloted the technology – the Alliance vessel, the Normandy."

"The Normandy? The ship that helped save the Citadel during the geth attack a couple years back?"

Tosh paused. "Geth attack. . .Yes."

"So we've had an advanced stealth system on this ship and I never knew? Come on! Sure would have been nice to know at least a few times already!"

"Indeed." Tosh turned on his omni-tool and started accessing the VI core. "I found this out while compiling a list of this ship's installed capabilities, making sure that the GARDIAN grid was active. The interesting thing about the IES is that it has attachments of code everywhere in it. It looks like it was supposed to remain hidden and locked unless a few conditions were met. Looks like your Cerberus friends didn't want just anyone finding out about it."

"Have we met any of those conditions?" Kevin asked, peering onto Tosh's projected screen.

"As far as I can tell, no, which is probably why neither you, Dolannus nor Welkas has found anything on the helmsman's terminals in the bridge."

"What are the conditions, then?"

"Here's what I know: One of the conditions is a hardware check. The hull refrigeration is active and can be used. The emission sinks are another story, though. From what I've been told, the system calls for a certain number of sinks based on ship size, thruster hardware and a few other things. We have some sinks, but not enough to complete the condition, like they never finished installing that equipment."

"More budget cuts."

"Possibly. The other conditions are activations from an external source as well as a myriad of relative variables and such. I can't figure out what those are without a point of reference. It's all just code, though, which means I can change it."

"Can we use it as-is?"

"Probably, but not without drawbacks. The original IES stealth system allowed the ship to run silent for a few hours and passively move for days without needing to vent. I'd have to run a few calculations, but I suspect our run time between ventings would be much shorter than that."

Kevin nodded, then went silent for a moment as he considered something. "Wasn't the Normandy a joint military prototype? How do you know all this? It's an interesting fact to point out considering you were also the one who grabbed that joint military leaked information regarding the Melkanis relay."

Tosh chuckled. "The relay information was half accident and half luck, much as it was for your contact that got it, I'm sure. As for the IES and Normandy information? I had a. . . A friend that was part of the crew of the Normandy for a while."

"Reeeeeeeally?" Kevin, suspecting a good story was about to be reluctantly revealed, folded his arms and leaned back on the edge of the T.E.R.A. Mainframe. "Who was this friend of yours that so conveniently infiltrated a military vessel?"

"She didn't infiltrate, she was brought aboard."

"She?" Kevin asked, tilting his head forward.

"Yes, she. We were childhood friends. Grew up on the same liveship together. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was her name."

"That's right, I do remember hearing something about a quarian on that ship."

Tosh continued without any further prodding. "We were close friends. Even went on pilgrimage together. She had one of the most brilliant and beautiful minds. It was almost like we were bound together by fate."

"You keep talking past tense, Tosh. What happened?"

"One day on our pilgrimage, we followed a geth patrol to an uncharted planet. We worked together to get one to separate from its unit, when she disabled it. It wasn't completely out, so its memory core was still working somewhat. No one in the Migrant Fleet had collected data from a working memory core before, even partially. It's always deleted the moment the geth unit is 'killed'. We both knew that getting data off of that core would be a perfect gift for returning to the flotilla from our pilgrimage."

"I take it things didn't go quite as planned."

"The memory core wasn't nearly as salvageable as we'd hoped, but we did get a bit of audio from it. Turns out the audio proved that a turian Spectre had gone rogue and pointed out a couple of other things. Someone somewhere had found out about our handiwork, though, and we were pursued. Tali had the data on her omni-tool, so she planned on going to the Citadel to do something about it. She wouldn't let me come, though. 'It's dangerous enough as it is,' she said. 'I've got an idea, but I don't want to risk your life.'"

"Ouch. Heck of a way to get dumped," Kevin said.

"In the end, I agreed. She promised not to mention my name for fear that those that were pursuing us would come after me personally. We parted ways before we got to the Citadel. She contacted me periodically after that, talking about how the data from that core got her onto a military ship with a human Spectre on some special mission to save the galaxy. I honestly thought she was exaggerating."

"Until news of the geth attack hit the extranet."

"She told me that she decided to hang out in engineering. Typical for her. Over time, she had told me about a lot of the things she was learning about the ship's fancy brand new systems. One of them was the IES."

"It's a good thing nobody found out she was doing that. I'm sure leaking experimental military technology would have a hefty punishment."

"That's what I told her. All she said was that just telling me wouldn't hurt as long as she wasn't causing trouble. She can be such a stubborn girl. Anyways, she finished her pilgrimage right after that and went aboard the Neema. I eventually finished mine and asked for the Neema as well. I had hopes we could work together. Problem was, after she was permanently assigned to the Neema after the Normandy was 'supposedly' destroyed, she wasn't the same. She started taking on dangerous missions all the time. The last time I ever heard from her was a message that read: 'My old captain's back.' That was, according to the research timetable, when she was sent on a mission to geth space to investigate a rapidly dying star. I don't think she ever came back to the fleet."

"So you've given up?" Kevin asked, standing up straight from his leaning position.

"Yes. I have my own missions now. I've grown beyond childhood crushes and such."

"That's your decision, I guess. I, personally, would have chased her down."

Tosh stopped tinkering with his omni-tool and looked at Kevin. "There was word throughout the fleet that her 'old captain' was working with Cerberus, Folner." His voice had a hint more emotion in it now. Frustration, mostly. "Cerberus is bad news for everyone. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't chase her down. I wouldn't. They had already invaded the fleet once, I wasn't going to let that happen again. This is why it was not easy for us to just assume you weren't on their side."

"That _does_ add a bit more perspective. Sorry, I didn't mean to play peanut gallery."

"It would be silly of me to believe that you already knew," Tosh said, his voice returning to analytical neutrality. He returned his attention to his omni-tool and started typing again. "But like I said, I've moved on. Just as we should be. If I find anything else out, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I am going to try and unlock this for us. Limited or not, I am sure it will be beneficial."

"Thanks," Kevin said with a nod.

For some reason, the word 'unlocking' sparked something in his head. His locked files on his storage device. If there was anyone who could unlock them, it was Tosh. Would he be able to trust this quarian who obviously despises Cerberus with locked Cerberus data, though? It could be that act of trust that might help Tosh understand this unknown variable better.

"Was there anything else you'd like to discuss?" Tosh asked in response to Kevin having not left yet.

"Actually, there was. I have a favor to ask, Tosh. A huge one." Kevin stepped a bit closer toward Tosh so that he could lower his volume without contending with the soft hum of the life support machinery.

Tosh stopped typing and looked at Kevin again. "Normally I'd say that we don't have time for favors, but you make it sound important."

"It is, to me. I have a set of files on a storage drive that are tightly encrypted and they more than likely pertain to a portion of my past that I don't know much about. If you were able to decrypt them for me, I'd be extremely grateful."

Tosh paused. "This is about what the Illusive Man said to you, isn't it?"

"Quite possibly. It's very personal, very sensitive data. You're the first person I trust with enough skill to do it."

There was a moment of silence between them as Tosh considered the request. After about a minute of thought, he gave Kevin his answer. "Alright Folner, I'll give it a look. I assume this is something you don't want the others to know about?"

Just as Kevin was about to reply, the door opened and Arla stepped in. "Ah. The captain said I might find you in here."

Kevin looked at Arla and then back to Tosh. "If at all possible. Thanks, Tosh, I'll send you the files later."

Tosh nodded to him and went back to working with the VI core. Kevin then turned around and headed out the door with Arla.

"You have incredible timing," he said. His tone made it difficult to determine if he meant that in a good way or bad way.

"What were you two doing in there, anyways?" she asked.

"Bonding. You were looking for me?"

"Yes, I wanted to see if you wanted to get each other's training out of the way early today."

"Why, do you have someplace to be?" he asked playfully.

"No, but. . ."

"You're telling me you were looking forward to it? I knew it, you love to train," Kevin pointed at her matter-of-factually. "Or you love to teach. I haven't figured out which yet."

Arla said nothing, presumably to stop the assumptions.

"Okay, I'll play your game, Tavval. So which will it be first? Combat or tech?"

She folded her arms and leaned back on one leg. "I don't care. Either is better than standing here thinking about it."

"Well then, let's decide here and now. From this point on, it'll be tech first, then combat second."

"I can live with that," she acknowledged.

With that decided, they both turned at the same time and headed down to engineering. They took the usual elevator on the left and walked to the workbench. It was oddly quiet in the engine room, probably because the sound of Ralik playing with his lab wasn't adding to the ambient hum of the engine. On the workbench, set before they even entered the room, was a simple combat drone. Its pieces were carefully arrayed on the bench with wires connecting each piece.

"You did fairly well on the exam last time, so I think we'll get into the more physical aspect of your tech training. Now I know you know how electronics work, but I'm going to start teaching you how it all interconnects. This is the same simplified combat drone you worked on last time. Its microfactured system provides good examples of both simple and complex interfaces between hardware and software. As we go on, you will be fitting the pieces together and making sure the connections are working, both physically as well as logically."

Kevin didn't speak, but rather nodded as he let his mind fall into absorption mode. This was a little different than last time – before now it was mostly understanding, now it had equal parts understanding and execution. Arla started by explaining to Kevin various things that he should be able to identify when looking at electronic internals. Not long after that, he was steadily working at the most basic pieces in the drone while Arla continued to point certain things out as well as detail basic procedures that he should be able to follow when working on sensitive equipment.

A couple of hours into the lesson, Kevin was starting to fall behind. He was not used to working on such small devices, much less as he was learning exactly what he was doing. It got to a point where Arla had to stop for a moment to allow Kevin to make some headway on his side of the lesson, particularly for him to figure out a few contacts that needed to be connected for the firmware in the drone to recognize and utilize the navigational equipment that allowed the drone to move.

Arla, who didn't seem able to keep quiet for a few minutes, started asking a question. "The captain told me you put on that whole event last night."

"More or less. She helped me get your drinks ready," he said without looking up. "You were really enjoying yourself."

"Keelah, why does everyone keep pointing that out to me?"

"Do you think that you having a good time is a bad thing?"

"No, I just. . . I don't know. I haven't been able to dance that freely in a long time. So yes, I did enjoy myself. I had fun. There, I said it." Suddenly, Arla wasn't sounding so sure of herself. There was a wall, a divider missing between them which seemed to allow her to talk more comfortably around him.

"Just because you're a marine doesn't mean to have to portray a cold, hard quarian that can't remember what fun is. I mean, come on. You're around my age, aren't you?" Kevin continued to carefully select his moves on the drone. One false move could short-circuit the entire device.

"Twenty-six," she replied. His age.

"People our age need to have fun. I swear its built into life itself, ignoring culture, race, species and gender. If we don't get to have fun, we start to become rigid. You know, like Ralik."

Arla didn't seem to take that as a shot about how she had been acting, but rather took it in like well given advice from an experienced family member. She nodded in thought and after a minute, she turned around to look around the room. Her sights rested on Ralik's lab and Kevin, curious as to what she was looking at, paused his project to look for himself. What he saw was Ralik at his lab, but not typing away or performing system maintenance. He was sitting in the chair, slumped over a counter on his lab, out cold. Or, more accurately, fast asleep. That would explain the lack of noise coming from the lab area. Kevin couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

"So. . . You'll do that again, right?" Arla asked. Her tone was now hushed so that she wouldn't wake the sleeping salarian she was now aware of.

"Dance with you?" he quickly asked, getting back to work on his little project.

Caught off guard by the nature of Kevin's response, she verbally stumbled. "Yes- I mean- No, I meant a dance party. You'll do another one, right?"

Kevin chuckled under his breath. "Another dance party? Sure, I guess. If the demand is high enough. I don't suppose I'll have to worry about that, though. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Maybe I'll have food around as well next time instead of just drinks."

"That sounds like a good idea," Arla confirmed.

She fell silent as Kevin continued to work on the drone, but by now she was beginning to become impatient. Kevin easily noticed the light tapping of her fingers on the workbench. It wasn't so much irritated impatience as it was anxiousness. Something else had to have been bothering her. At least that was one visual cue that Kevin could still pick up on. Meanwhile, Kevin was having a bit of indecision. He avoided one particular set of connections and finished everything else because he wasn't quite sure about three of the interconnecting wires. Nothing was directly labeled – he had to work on the knowledge that he had absorbed from Arla. This was the problem since he either forgot something she mentioned to him, or she failed to describe the situation that he had come across.

"Aren't you finished with that yet?" she asked at the crescendo of speed of her tapping fingers.

"Almost, keep your helmet on. Just. . . I'm not too sure about this setup here. It'll probably be a win or catastrophic-failure-of-the-system decision, too. Can't you help me at all, or is this another one of your exams?" Kevin's eyes were beginning to go cross due to staring at the minuscule tracks of electronics.

"You almost have it. Just finish that connection set correctly and you're done. You can test how you did by turning it on. We won't bother with fitting the sphere back together."

"Engh. . ." Kevin grunted in disappointment at his own indecision. With a mental push, he forced himself to pick one possible solution and stick with it. He made the connections and held his breath as he turned the drone on.

When the device powered up, Kevin was greeted by a very loud, constant screech. He, Arla and Ralik all jumped at the sound and Kevin fought briefly with it to shut it off. Once he was successful in that regard, Kevin kept a perpetual wince on his face coupled with a slightly lowered head.

"What in the white blazes of a neutron star was that?" Ralik shouted, looking all over his equipment. He turned to look at where the sound came from and spotted Arla and Kevin looking back at him.

"Can't a salarian get a quick nap down at his lab for a few minutes? Cloacas." Ralik shook his head and stretched.

"Ralik, you've been down here for hours," Kevin carefully pointed out. "You decided to forgo sleep after the party, didn't you?"

"What? Hours?" He looked at his omni-tool. "Crap. Bah. I'm going up a deck to eat. Please do not bring any squealing, malfunctioning pieces of equipment in there for the time being, alright?" Without listening for a response, Ralik took an elevator up and stormed out of the engine room.

Kevin looked back to Arla. "I guess this means I fail, huh?"

"Afraid so, Folner. Don't worry about it too much, though. This exam usually doesn't take place until at least another month of class, so I kind of expected you to fail," she said unforgivably.

"Oh, that's great. Expected to fail. Thanks for that. My ego could really use another boot to the neck, please!" He wasn't at all serious.

"We'll just try again tomorrow after another lesson," Arla said while she started collecting the bits of the now defective rendition of Tula'Rok vas Namor. "I'm going to make sure you pass that exam."

"At least you aren't giving up on me. I'm pretty sure the tech teachers back in highschool had given up on me by this point. I think they decided – without my input I might add – that I not go for an engineering scholarship."

"Well, you aren't the _worst_ student I've seen, but. . ."

Kevin clenched his quarian-like hands around his neck. "Ow! Augh! My ego! Neck. . . Collapsing. . ."

Arla shook her head and stood from her stool. "I'll meet you in the entertainment room in five, okay?"

"Ego. . . Can't breathe!" Kevin grasped at the thin air around him, playing as if he was choking.

Arla sighed a lighthearted sigh and placed her hands on her hips. "Fine. How about. . . 'I am sure you will ace it next time! You are a fast learner! Do not forget to get your gold star for today!"

Kevin shot up as if nothing had happened this whole time, pumping a fist into the air. "I'm glad you think I'm such a great student, Ms. Tavval! I'll pass that test next time for sure! You'll see!"

Arla shook her head again, possibly loosening a snicker in the process. "Just meet me there in a few minutes, alright?"

"Done and done." As Kevin responded, he joined her on the elevator and headed up. When they exited, she headed for the crew quarters and Kevin traveled to the entertainment room to wait for her.

Kevin had already gotten a head start on removing his armor by the time Arla showed up. This time she was the one who brought water for them to drink and she tossed the bottles off to the side of the room just before she started working off her armor as well. Much like last time, Kevin found himself inadvertently staring as she did so, causing the speed of his removal of the final two pieces to slow to a crawl. It was no surprise, then, that she finished before him, but it wasn't until she finished that Kevin snapped out of it.

_It's just armor, Kevin,_ he thought to himself. _Get it together. Seriously, it's no different than a hardsuit. Also, don't trip on your pauldrons._

It wasn't long after this that they were ready and training. They were both beginning to get used to doing this more often and conversation before the training didn't need to happen anymore. Kevin better understood Arla's way of learning, so he no longer had to spend an hour or two gauging how she was picking up on the training. It was starting to get. . . typical. A bit of change between the last session and this was enough to keep her learning, and next time he considered introducing practice weapons for the beginning of armed CQC.

They trained for about three hours before they called it quits. They collectively decided to get some grub in the mess rather than just hang around in the entertainment room, even before they had a chance to slow their heart rates. When they stepped into the mess hall, they found that nearly everyone was already in there, sitting down for their own meals.

Ralik and Tosh were chatting away about something at one table, their omni-tools projecting images onto the flat surface in front of them. At the same table were Tyr and Siri, generally ignoring everything that the scientific duo was talking about and having their own conversation. Riik and Welkas were grabbing things from the kitchen and making their way over to a table where Bela was sitting by herself. Arla and Kevin were beginning to feel left out. Had they missed something? Just as they were about to ask, Bela noticed them and piped up.

"Ah. A man and a woman walking into a populated room together from origins unknown, panting heavily. . . It warms the heart, doesn't it? It's like something out of a romantic comedy!"

"Stow it, Merni. It's not like that and you know it," Arla said, brushing it off.

"It's alright, Merni," Riik said, joining in. "It's not like we need to know about_ all_ of their "activities", right?" The word 'activities' was aptly accompanied by air quotes. He, Kar and Bela laughed as they joined her at the table with meals in hand.

"Everyone's in such a great mood today!" Kevin said with over the top enthusiasm. Just as he finished, he turned to Arla. "I'm scared."

"Alright guys, enough," the captain said mixed with a laugh. "It's perfectly normal to walk into the mess hall with your trainer, breathing heavily."

There was a short round of silence. Enough to cause Ralik and Tosh to look up from their engrossing conversation.

"Depends on the training," Welkas added afterwards, unable to contain himself. The laughter resumed in full force.

Kevin noticed Arla trying to hide clenching fists. It was time to break it off or he figured Arla would get unnecessarily defensive. "Hardy har har," Kevin said as he walked towards the kitchen. "Good to see you guys haven't lost your sense of cruel and unusual punishm- Err, humor."

"Hey, if we didn't poke fun, things would get boring around here," Bela said.

Arla joined Kevin in the kitchen, searching for something to eat. "Bosh'tets," she said under her breath.

"Hey, lighten up. They're just joking."

"I hate being the butt of a joke. Always have. Especially when it comes to me and a-" She trailed off, realizing that she didn't want to finish the statement.

"Come on, you have a thicker exo-suit than that. I mean, you've had to deal with_ me_ for hours at a time over the past few days." Kevin grabbed a few things here and there and pulled something meaty from the refrigerator.

Arla stared at him with a blank, visor covered look for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just need to learn to let it drop."

Arla grabbed something for herself and returned to the long rectangular tables. She sat down on the corner seat of the joking trio's table next to the empty space between that table and the one the captain sat at. Meanwhile, Kevin was making something for himself in the kitchen. It was a simple meal, so it only took him about twenty minutes to make. When he finished and was bringing his meal out to sit with the rest, everyone was talking and laughing – even Arla.

"Crisis averted," he said to himself as he walked into the noisy crowd.

"What?" Kar asked him.

"You guys saved me a seat, right?" he responded.

"If you can call that seat saved, you can sit next to the science duo over there."

"Gee, thanks," Kevin responded with humorous sarcasm.

When Kevin sat down, he filled in the gap of people at the table. Since he went to the kitchen, the two groups – separated by the person-wide gap between tables – had crowded around said gap. Siri and Tyr at one side of one table, the gap, then Arla and Bela. On the other side, it was Tosh, Ralik, Kevin, the gap, then Kar and Riik. It was like a classic energetic family dinner with multiple conversations spanning the entire group. Everyone was sharing comical stories about each other's past, usually closely pursued by laughter.

When Kevin sat down, he immediately took the knife and fork he took with him and he start brutally destroying the tasty looking meal he made for himself. _Brutally._ This caused the conversations around him to cease as they stared in pseudo-horror at Kevin's apparent love for food.

Ralik, who must not have fully understood why he was doing such a thing, was the first to speak up. "Kevin, what are you _doing_?"

Kevin stopped and looked up. "What? I'm prepping my meal."

"That's not preparation. That's _obliteration_," the salarian responded.

"You ever use a straw before, Ralik?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, why?"  
Kevin flipped his food-tube down. "You try sucking a well cooked solid food meal through one and tell me how it goes for you."

"I. . . Oh. Right." Ralik promptly shut up and activated his coping mechanism of 'going back to work' with Tosh.

Bela stood up from her seat, leaned over the table and slapped Riik on the shoulder. "See? I told you he'd learn fast. You owe me one armor polish."

"Fine, fine," Riik responded dismissively.

"While I'm wearing it," Bela added.

"For Keelah's sake, Merni. Really?"

"That's alright, Riik," Kevin said, pointing his now useless fork at him. "We don't need to know about _all _of your "activities", right?"

The group burst out into gentle laughter. Riik pointed at Kevin, his hand moving back and forth as though he were poking the air. When he failed to find a suitable retort, he let his hand fall to the table in the form of a loosely clenched fist, shaking his head and chuckling. Kar leaned over the gap towards Kevin and offered a fist, which Kevin subsequently met with a fist of his own.

"This isn't over between you and me," Riik playfully threatened.

They all remained at the table for about another hour or so, finishing meals, telling more stories and making more jokes. During this time, however, Kevin was steadily noticing something. Something important that he still hadn't done yet. Just about everyone except him and Siri had found a way to wear their Xelvas'taersh emblems.

Tyr wore his like a bandolier with the icon dangling on the front of his left shoulder. Bela, in classic Bela fashion, had hers wrapped tightly around her right thigh with the medallion hanging on the outside of the leg. Riik had his similar to Tyr's in the sense that it wrapped over his shoulder, but he didn't cut his short so that it wrapped like two bandoliers over each shoulder with the icon carefully placed so that it appeared to dangle from where the band crisscrossed over his chest. Welkas wore his the loosest, wrapped twice around his neck like a dual layer chain necklace with the emblem classically hanging from the bottom loop. Tosh's was wrapped several times around his left forearm with the icon dangling halfway – out of the way of his hand and his frequent omni-tool use.

Even Ralik had his on. His was wrapped around the spacer on his hardsuit that arced across his chest and the medallion dangled on the right side of the arc like a military medal. Kevin took mental note of all this and decided that he'd finally do something with his when he had a moment. For now, though, he'd just continue to enjoy the company of friends around him – something for years he never thought he'd have.


	24. Chapter 23

_**Chapter 23**_

Hours after the entertaining meal with his shipmates, Kevin was still in his room. Wrapped around his right hand was the strap for his Xelvas'taersh symbol. The symbol itself was held in his open hand, unable to succumb to gravity because it was still attached to the strap. He had been thinking for a while now about how he should wear it. He had been given a fairly prestigious position in being part of this squad, and he still hadn't honored the colors by sporting this emblem. He was going to make it happen. Even if it meant not leaving the room until he did.

As hard as he thought, however, he couldn't think of a way to wear it that meant anything real to him. At least not in any way that kept the dangling emblem from getting in his way. After a while, he just gave up and started picking areas that he could wrap it around. It was then that it occurred to him to wrap the strap around his left upper arm. After awkwardly fiddling with it to get it clipped and wrapped tightly without the use of his left hand, he was able to get it to stay in one place with the emblem dangling on the outside of his arm. It was wrapped high enough so that, as it dangled, the bottom of the emblem was just above his elbow. It reminded him of when soldiers of his own species wore icons on the outside of their sleeves in the same place to denote rank.

The problem was, the strap was wrapped so many times, it obstructed his arm's movement. Kevin briefly flashed back to what admiral Han'Gerrel said about the strap material. An omni-tool cutter could easily take off unwanted portions and he could affix the freshly cut end to the clip. Kevin unwrapped the strap to the point where it was wrapped only once. He measured out where he would want to cut it and marked it a centimeter or two shorter. He wanted to make sure it was tight enough so that it wouldn't slide or flop around during periods of activity. After it was cut and the necessary pieces were rejoined, Kevin wrapped it once and clipped it. He tested how tight it was by tugging on it, practicing some quick melee combat moves and by stretching. It was snug enough that it wasn't going to move, and didn't compress his suit enough to constrict his arm.

Kevin made a short trip over towards the bathroom in his quarters. He used the large mirror there to get a new sense of what he looked like to everyone else. An armored quarian with unusual boots, colorless and clanless, with a vague emblem denoting some non-existent faction dangling on his arm. The clanless part didn't bother him much. He wasn't quarian and certainly wasn't expecting to be asked into a clan. The dark gray of his plain suit wasn't so bad either. It was a color easily forgotten and quickly overlooked. If he really did plan on using this suit when 'returning to the workforce', he'd benefit more from less colors.

_"Rolush to Folner,"_ boomed a voice over his suit's comms, interrupting his thought process.

"Go ahead, Tosh. What's up?"

_"Two things. First, I've unlocked the various systems related to the IES Stealth System, which in the future I'll just call the Stealth System or IES3. Second, I've opened a secure tunnel between our omni-tools. If you have anything you'd like to 'show me', you can use that to transmit data."_

"Duly noted, Tosh. I'll be down in a few minutes so we can go over the details."

_"Understood. I will be inviting the captain and Welkas here as well so that they are aware. If there is anything you want to send me, I advise you do so now or wait until afterwards."_

"Got it," Kevin confirmed as the comms shut off.

He immediately headed for the desk terminal where his storage device was resting. He plugged it into the terminal and used his omni-tool to access the data. After finding the collection of locked files, he made copies and sent them off to Tosh through the tunnel network the clever quarian had set up. Once all of the data was confirmed received, Kevin closed off the tunnel and headed out to meet the others in the VI core room.

As Kevin came around the corner into the hallway right outside the engine room, he met up with Siri and saw Welkas making his way down from the opposite end. He and Siri stopped just outside the door as they waited for Kar and they walked in at the same time when he caught up. With Siri to his immediate left as they squeezed through the door just barely big enough for two people, he heard the high pitched klink of metal on metal. It wasn't their armor, however. The ablative pauldrons would have resonated a much deeper tone. When they were all the way inside the VI core room, he and Siri simultaneously looked at each other's arms to see what that was.

It turned out that Siri had finally found a way to wear her Xelvas'taersh emblem as well. What was interesting was that despite being in very different, isolated places, she wore her emblem nearly the exact same way he did, but on her right arm rather than her left.

"Well, well. Isn't that curious?" Siri said as her eyes trailed up to meet his.

"That's one way of putting it," Kevin responded as he stared back.

"Over here, please," Tosh called out as he waved everyone over to the area between the T.E.R.A. hardware and the VI core.

When everyone gathered, Tosh projected some data and some images on the wall. It appeared to be a dense wireframe rendition of the Kellius, with a few things highlighted by different wire colors.

Tosh began his explanation. "Now, because the captain and Welkas were not here for the previous conversation, I'll just briefly recap what Kevin and I talked about. While doing some routine checks into the VI to make sure the new guns were working, I came across some locked and hidden systems. Specifically, they are directly related to a stealth system pioneered by an alliance ship a couple years back. Welkas, I assume you've seen no such thing in the helmsman's terminals?"

"No. I haven't seen anything like that before," he said.

"Right. This was because these systems were deliberately designed to remain unusable by the party that installed them until certain conditions were met. As I told Kevin, we have not met any of these conditions yet, partly because the hardware installation is incomplete and partly because the Terra system hasn't gotten the go ahead from Cerberus."

"Let me get Tavval in here before you continue, Rolush. If this is a potentially mission critical system, she, as the only other officer, will need to know."

Tosh nodded and Siri called Arla up over the comms, ordering her to report to the VI core room. Not more than a minute later, Arla showed up and joined the crowd of participants. She stood directly behind Kevin until he sidestepped so that she could move between him and the captain to get a better view.

Tosh continued. "As I was saying, the conditions that needed to be met to unlock the stealth system have not been met yet, but this is all coded in. I had just completed unlocking these systems myself before I called you all down. As Kevin pointed out to me in our previous conversation, the installation isn't complete, so we weren't sure how that would affect the system. As it turns out, the stealth system can still be used, but with limitations that the original design didn't call for."

"What sort of limitations are we talking here?" Kar inquired.

"The main limitation we will have to deal with is active stealth time, since the hull refrigeration is in place and complete whereas the internal emission sinks are short a few. The original version allowed for running stealth times of several hours and passive stealth times of a few days before the emission sinks would have to be vented. I ran some calculations based on where the fewer number of usable sinks lands us in terms of stealth time. It looks like we can run active stealth for about forty-five minutes and passive stealth for somewhere around thirty hours."

"That doesn't give us a lot of active stealth time," Arla vocally noted.

"All that means is that we'll just have to be extra frugal with when we run active during stealth," the captain said. "We can still do some stealth missions as long as we're strategic in our execution."

"I assume that venting would instantly give away our position. What happens if we _don't_ vent the captured emissions?" Kevin asked.

"Seems to me that if the emissions are not vented and the containment capacity of the sinks is exceeded. . . " Tosh zoomed in on the wireframe image of the Kellius towards the aft where a few highlighted items lined the wall of the ship near the thrusters. "They probably burst and release the emissions into the ship, which would easily be enough to cook us all inside our suits. Case in point, it's something we really do not want to do."

"I assume I will have some way of determining remaining stealth time up at the bridge?" Kar wondered.

"I'm in the process of putting together a passive interface for the bridge terminals to denote remaining stealth time down to the minute," Tosh replied.

"Good work, Rolush," the captain applauded. "This will definitely help us get to the relay if the geth fleet is still there. Speaking of. . ." Siri suddenly turned and headed out of the core room with purpose in her strides.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion in response to Siri's quick withdrawal from the room. Kevin followed after her while Arla and Kar stayed behind to continue to hear Tosh's explanation. When he stepped out into the hall he caught Siri ducking into the crew quarters out of the corner of his limited peripheral vision and he pursued. Inside, the only other person there was Tyr, and he had been called by Siri to help her with something on the terminal at the far end of the room. Kevin moved up right behind them and peered at the screen.

"What did I miss back there?" Kevin asked.

"Hold on," Siri replied. "You will see in a minute. I just need to dig up that copied data."

Kevin did as instructed and waited patiently for them to find what it was they were looking for. About a minute later, modified LADAR scan vids started playing on the screen in sequence. What was modified was the various objects that showed up on the scans, which were now color-coded. There were a large number of red objects varying in size and shape, a single large blue object a distance away, and a small green object right next to the source of the scan. The big blue object's shape looked a lot like a mass relay, and that's when it hit Kevin – this was a modified version of some of the data leaked by the military. The same stuff that got him out here. Tarsil, Ralik and he glossed over this and focused more on the mass relay.

"This is the leaked information," Kevin stated.

"Yes," Tyr confirmed. "We've color-coded the entities according to what they seem to be. The blue is, obviously, the Melkanis mass relay. The green is a second stealthed probe. All that red crowding around the outside of the relay's estimated incoming drop zone? Those are geth ships. A surprising variety of geth ships."

"Alright, we figured the geth would be keeping an eye on their discovery. Are we looking for something else?" Kevin wondered.

"Not so much something else as something within the geth fleet." Siri said while taking control of the view on the vid.

It was a three-dimensional representation, thanks to that second probe, so Siri could control where the view on the screen was aimed. She scrolled about through the collected mass of geth ships, searching for something in particular. Kevin had already seen at least two ship variants that he had never witnessed before, but Siri just kept on looking until she eventually settled on easily the biggest ship in the fleet.

"That's it. It looks like my hunch was right." Siri sat back in her chair and folded her arms, her bodily language indicating a hint of exasperation. "Keelah."

"This just a lot more complicated," Tyr said.

"What exactly am I looking at?" Kevin asked.

Tyr was happy to oblige. "That's what we call a Valesh'saat geth ship, which roughly translates to 'Homeship-class'. For lack of a better term."

"I didn't know geth even needed homeships," Kevin said.

"As far as we know, they don't," Siri replied. "The geth communicate over tightbeams using pre-established FTL comm buoys, so they can transfer processes across the galaxy's network."

"But we're not in range of any comm buoys _now_, much less by the time we get there," Kevin pointed out.

"Precisely," Tyr replied. "There has only been one time a ship like this has ever been witnessed and documented amongst our people. That was during a deep space search near the fringes of the Perseus Veil to see if the geth were trying to push out. That was about fifty years ago or so."

"The search nearly came up empty," Siri continued. "It wasn't until the last few days of searching when they picked up a clustered bunch of geth ships surrounding a larger entity. They went in for a closer look and found that the larger entity was, in fact, a geth ship of previously unseen size. It was similar in external configuration to that of the smaller ships, aside from maybe some additional insect-like leg mechanical appendages, and was easily as big as our own homeships."

"And that's where the name came from," Kevin concluded.

"Yes. We had no other name for it," Siri explained. "The deep space search vessel was able to steal one hull-penetrating scan of its middle – which amounts to just over a third of the entire vessel – before having to turn around and FTL away due to catching the unwanted attention of the geth cluster. They went straight back to the Migrant Fleet at that point and were hailed as heroes."

"Yet in all these fifty years," Tyr said, "we haven't been able to determine the purpose of such a ship. We have many theories, though. One is that it's a manufacturing site, churning out more geth ships and infantry. Another is that it's a repository for mined materials. The most popular theory, however, is that it actually does fulfill a role similar to that of a homeship. Since it was beyond the communications of its own kind, a ship that massive would provide a hub of network connectivity and storage for a small fleet, like the one pictured here. They could house billions of processes there. Thousands of ships and infantry. All while being out of the data sharing range of the rest of the geth."

"A self-sufficient fleet away from home? Sounds familiar," Kevin pointed out.

"I doubt it's because they want to model us," Siri said. "It's simply a fairly efficient setup for geth on deep space runs. They don't want to lose processing power by running out of connected range with the majority or their kind, so they take a huge piece of hardware with them to keep neural network connections high."

"So how does this make things more complicated for us? If we time our stealth system right, we can float right by them all." Kevin folded his arms.

Sir looked to Tyr and Tyr back to her. She drew in a deep breath and turned the chair to face Kevin. "This mission is more than just exploration, Kevin, if you remember. Part of it is seeing about elimination geth as much as possible as we search. We never really anticipated finding a Valesh'saat geth ship, even if I had hunches about it, but it provides us with the greatest opportunity for eliminating a massive amount of geth in one blow."

"Oh God. You want to take on _that_?" Kevin took a step back. "You guys are out of your friggin' minds! That's easily a dreadnought equivalent!"

Tyr folded his arms and leaned against one of the nearby bunks. "It's not a warship, Kevin. It's a support ship. At least, as far as we know. We have the scan data of the midsection of the ship, which gives us a considerable advantage for an internal strike. If I remember, the scans picked up a server cluster. I'd say that's a perfect way to bring down a Valesh'saat and cripple the surrounding fleet. We just need a plan of action."

Kevin let his head fall back. This didn't seem like a good idea to him at all.

"We're all on the same mission now, Kevin," Siri said while approaching him. "You have no idea how important this is to our people. It's just a slight detour. That's all."

"We won't be going in blind," Tyr piped in. "We have a known portion of the ship. The captain and I will use the next few days drawing up a plan of action and to strategize."

"We'll be walking into a bee's nest," Kevin said.

Siri placed her hands on Kevin's shoulders and stared him in the eye. "I am confident that a small team can get in and out without much agitation. We have to do this, Kevin. We promised we would."

Quickly realizing that he was going to be the minority on this, and realizing that he was now under her command, he acquiesced with a sigh. "Yes, captain."

"Good. I will talk to the others about it individually. For now, Kevin, you should go see if Rolush has any more details on that stealth system for you to know."

"Yes ma'am," Kevin somberly replied before heading out of the room.

When the door shut behind him Kevin let out another sigh. He wasn't blindly agreeing to it, but he wasn't going to just outright disagree either. She was right in that he accepted this mission when he agreed to be a part of the Xelvas'taersh, and that he had a duty to fulfill all of the objectives to the best of his ability. He decided to wait and see the reactions of the rest of his squadmates before he would say anything, hoping that they would agree with him on it. With one last peek at the door behind him, he headed for the VI core room.

Arla and Kar were still talking with Tosh when he stepped in. Arla must have noticed the heaviness to his steps because she promptly picked up on it.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You'll find out soon enough, I'm sure," Kevin said.

"Is there something wrong with the captain?" Kar wondered aloud.

"Not exactly. . . The captain will tell you guys later. Anyways, Tosh, what else is there to know?"

Tosh spent the next twenty minutes outlining the various technical bits and pieces to the IES3. When he finished, he dismissed everyone so that he could get back to work on his helmsman's interface.

A few hours after the technical debriefing on the IES3, Kevin had the chance to catch up with several of his squadmates and ask them if the captain had talked to them like she said she would. It seemed that their opinions of the idea were evenly split. Bela, Tosh and Kar all simply thought of the idea as dangerous orders they had to follow. Bela made the interesting point of "If we didn't do anything with risk, what have we done worth merit?". Tyr, Arla and Riik were all for the idea of assaulting the geth ship. Ralik expressed a few concerns about the quarians' level of strategical expertise and what the act of disabling a geth ship in geth space would amount to, but other than that, he was fairly neutral. It seemed Kevin was the only one genuinely concerned. Voicing his issues with the mission didn't seem like it would hold much weight on its own. He needed other people to agree with him. So much for that plan.

Kevin sat himself down in one of the comfortable couches facing the large viewport in the port side observation lounge to think. He was again reminded of why he left the Alliance military to begin with. He disliked following orders that he believed were bad ideas, even if he was the only one. It was why he started working alone. He could decide what he wanted to follow and what he wouldn't bother with. His contract work was always by choice, but he had to admit to himself that he hadn't come up against a contract that he straight out disagreed with.

Either way, there wasn't much he could do to get out of it now. He had to trust that Siri and Tyr would come up with a plan that minimized the risks, and jumping into a geth homeship _probably_ came with a lot of risks built in as it is.

"What did you get yourself into, Folner? All you wanted was a quick cred," he said to himself.

After another few minutes of thinking of a response to himself, the door opened.

"Are you still sulking about the mission?" It was Arla.

"How did you know I was in here?" He was hoping for peace and quiet.

"Thank Terra for that. She's wonderful when you ask her nicely."

Kevin clenched a fist. That blasted VI. "And no, I'm not sulking. Just. . . Thinking."

"Thinking about how you're going to jump ship when we reach the fleet?"

"I'd be insulted if I wasn't so deep in thought right now."

"Come on. What are you so afraid of?"

"I _was_ afraid of you jumping on my back about it, but I guess I can check that off of the 'to be afraid of' list.

"I'm being serious here, Folner."

"Arla, I left the Alliance military because I couldn't follow orders I didn't agree with. I'm just stuck facing that all over again."

"Why don't you agree with it? Surely the captain's told you how important this is."

"I just have this gut feeling that it's going to turn into a disaster, that's all. There's so much that can go wrong in a situation like that."

Arla stepped around the couch and stood between Kevin and the viewport. "You can trust that it'll go fine, and here's why. Tyr, our best strategist and the captain are putting this plan together. Do you think the captain will allow any of us to die or get left behind after what happened with the Forverna?"

Kevin didn't respond.

"Of course not. If she can't find a way for this to work for everyone, she won't do it. She cares too much about all of us to just toss us into a varren den. And that's only half of it. We will have the entire team's skills working in unison. Those synthetics have it coming, and we're going to give it to them right at the heart of their own homeship. All that's left is for you to put forth an effort."

Kevin snickered.

"What's so funny?" Arla angrily asked.

"Careful, Tavval. Your positive attitude and ego combined might just spontaneously combust and put a hole in the hull." His tone was far lighter than his words might have indicated.

Arla fumed. "You're such a. . . Augh!"

She went to kick him against the couch, but Kevin, being familiar with her ways by now, was ready for it. He stopped her foot before it could gain damaging momentum and quickly tugged on it. Arla was pulled off balance towards the couch and fell onto its plush surface. She flailed a bit to turn herself in preparation of a counter, but Kevin wasn't bothering. Instead, he was simply sitting forward with his elbows on his knees and hands under his chin while staring out the window.

"You're right, I guess," Kevin said before she fully prepped herself to attack again. "The captain won't just send us in without regard and if I'm going to walk into a bee's nest, I'm going to walk in with a really big stick."

"That's more like it, Folner." Arla readjusted herself so that she was sitting normally, turned towards him. "You had me worried for a while there. I thought I might have to hold your hand the whole way."

"Nah, you'd like that too much."

She sighed. "Whatever. If there's nothing else I can do to bring you out of the emotional pit of despair, I'll be going."

"Actually. . ." Kevin said just as Arla stood. He looked up to her slowly and folded his hands as if he were mocking a beggar. "Could you watch a vid with me?" He accompanied this with puppy dog eyes that she probably didn't even see.

"I'm out of here," she replied, almost chuckling.

"I'll watch one with you, Folner!" yelled Bela from the doorway. She ran in and hopped over the back of the couch facing the vid screen, falling down onto it already in a sitting position.

"Wha-?" Arla looked at Bela and then to the door where the captain was leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded.

Kevin was just as confused as Arla, but chose not to show it. Instead, he hopped over to the couch Bela sat on and gave her a high-five for stepping up.

"How long?" Arla asked.

"Since halfway through your incredibly encouraging speech," Bela said as she used her omni-tool to bring up the list of media on the screen.

Kevin turned on the couch to look back at Arla. "So wait, you mean to tell me that the captain _didn't_ send you in here to bug me? Interesting."

"I don't need the captain's permission to kick you back to life, Folner," Arla responded.

"Fair enough."

"Come on, Tavval," Siri said. "Let's go before you lose it. Welkas has some minor engine performance tweaks he suggested that I'd like you to work on." She held out a datapad from her now pseudo-crossed arms.

Arla looked back at Kevin once more while she quickly snatched up the datapad. Without another word, she left with the captain.

"How do you guys do it?" Kevin asked Bela. "You quarians are such creepers. I swear, anytime I'm not looking, one or more of you is spying on me."

"Either that or you're just not very attentive. Ah, here we go. I love this movie. It's called "The Beast and the Beauty", and it's about this asari girl who stumbles upon the stronghold of a callous krogan warlord!"

"Oh great. A cheesy love story. Should of known you'd pick something like that."

"You know, there's some Fornax 'behind the scenes' vids in here too. Would you rather I played one of those?"

". . . On second thought, The Beast and the Beauty sounds great."

The days following the discovery of the geth homeship started to fall into what Kevin considered the 'repeating pattern of daily life' category. Each day was becoming more and more typical, but not so much that he was beginning to dislike it. In some ways it was comforting getting back into a predictable routine. The last time he did that was in his highschool days. It was nice to know that he didn't have to worry about who's eyesight he might have to dodge for a few days or what lengths he would have to go to in order to complete a contract.

Each day was dominated by two major events. A tech learning session with 'Ms. Tavval' and a close quarters combat training session with his predictable student, Arla'Tavval. Progress in each was steady. They each grew more and more accustomed to each other's talents as they worked. Kevin was able to keep up with the ridiculous amounts of information she dumped on him and even passed a few more of her exams with Tula'Rok. Likewise, Arla was showing steady progression with her combat abilities. Kevin had even made the official decision to move onto practicing armed CQC with her only a day before they reached reach the relay.

Ralik's social interaction with the rest of the team got less rigid each day and he and Tosh's collaboration on projects increased. Additionally, since the dance party Kevin had set up, all but Ralik seemed to fall into a similar sleep pattern, which also meant more shared meals and moments of little to no activity. Antics between shipmates were frequent, of course, especially if Bela was involved.

The captain and Tyr spent most of their time in the briefing room pouring over data and scans related to the geth homeship and consulting members of the squad about how to handle certain areas. They were hard at work at trying to make sure they had a plan that would work. Kevin's worries about the mission never went away, but he mentally committed himself to going all out to make sure that everything turned out fine as long as there was something he could about it. Luckily, the tension related to the mission that he feared would dominate by undertone wasn't there, which made the remaining days until they arrived easier to deal with.

Kar and Tosh tested the IES3 during discharge stops to make sure of several things. They tested the interface Tosh had programmed, they tested the physical hardware and they tested the overall system to make sure it worked as designed. It turned out that Tosh's calculations were more or less on the dot, and active stealth time worked out to be forty to fifty minutes. Meanwhile, Tosh informed Kevin that he was not able to find a point of reference for cracking the cipher on his locked files. Tosh also informed him that he had not given up, and installed some of his custom algorithms for cracking locked systems and files into the ship so that he could utilize some of its unused processing power to work on the files. He knew it would take a while, and told Kevin that he might not see any results for days.

Kevin began to notice that Bela was frequently disappearing to the cargo bay for hours. When he asked her about it, she only told him that it was related to the upcoming mission. While Kevin was certainly curious, he did not want to press matters unnecessarily. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

All the while the entire team was mentally prepping themselves for when they would launch the mission to the geth ship. No one truly knew what to expect and it started to show as they got down to the wire. Nervous habits like tapping fingers, tapping feet and pacing were prevalent during the day they were scheduled to arrive. Before they knew it, they were only hours away from reaching the Melkanis relay – and the geth fleet.


	25. Chapter 24

_**Chapter 24**_

Kevin, having been startled from a brief nap by a call for him to go to the briefing room, was tapping the drowsiness out of his head by rapping his knuckles against his visor. As he did this, he sluggishly made his way over to his desk to get his knife and pistol strapped on. He knew what he was being called into the briefing room for, and at the very least, he had to look like he was ready for this.

After all, he was about to become involved in a war with the geth.

After ensuring that his effects were snug, he drew in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it out. The call to the briefing room was the big debrief about the attack on the massive geth vessel, which was only a matter of hours away. He hadn't been a part of organized combat for a long time, excluding helping the quarians off that planet. He was anxious, but not because he didn't think he could follow orders or perform to the best of his ability on the mission. It was that he knew how quickly things can change hands in organized combat. All the more reason he had to go with them. Each team member that goes increases the others' survival rates, and he was not about to let them throw their lives away after he went to all the trouble of saving them from the geth once before. Using that as his source of determination, he marched out of his room.

In the briefing room, everyone was assembling around the briefing table with Tyr and Siri standing by themselves near the charred side. Kar, Tosh and Bela took seats while everyone else opted to stand. For the most part, everyone was silent until Siri started hitting buttons on her omni-tool. The lights in the room dimmed and the holographic projector at the center of the table lit up. It projected what Kevin assumed was that in-depth scan of the midsection of the geth vessel in fairly detailed wireframe. With that up for all to see, the captain got under way.

"As you might have guessed, we're here to discuss the upcoming strike on the geth Valesh'saat. We have a plan in place, as you'll see. We've drawn a lot from what we do know about the geth to formulate this, so let's hope they haven't had some form of synthetic renaissance in the past few days. Garloh, go ahead."

Tyr picked up where Siri left off. "The first phase of the strike is the approach. Under normal circumstances this would be absolute suicide, but thanks to Tosh'Rolush's recent discovery and work on the IES3, the plan is possible. We will decelerate to just under FTL speeds for the majority of our approach and shut off the engines when the designated velocity has been reached. This will allow us to activate the stealth system and drift at high speeds towards the fleet without using up most of the stealth system's capacity.

"Once we come within reasonable range of the fleet, we will fire on the reverse-thrusters to slow our approach. At this point, Kar'Welkas will take full control of the helm and bring the Kellius to the underbelly of the Valesh'saat. Using the docking magnets in the hull around the external door of the airlock, Welkas will _carefully_ bring the airlock up against the hull of the geth ship to allow the Kellius to remain there without any additional thruster output."

Siri piped in again. "The second phase is infiltration. Three people will work on cutting the hull. Tosh'Rolush as rigged the airlock pressure to normalize to whatever the interior pressure of the geth ship is to avoid setting off hull breach alarms. Now, the hull to hull seal will obviously not be airtight, since we can't fit the exterior of the airlock flush against the geth ship due to the Kellius' shape so the airlock will be constantly cycling to keep the pressure level. This spot is the only one that provided us with enough space for us to get this amount of airlock-to-hull contact. Once the hull has been cut enough for use to get in, the next phase can begin."

"The third phase is the most complex one," Tyr resumed. "It's where most of the work will reside. The primary objective is to deliver a disablement device to the servers, here." As he spoke, the wireframe model zoomed in to a particular octagonal room in the middle of the ship towards the supposed aft of the scan. "Bela'Merni has been working on such a device. Bela, please inform your squadmates of the nature of the device and delivery."

Bela stood up. "The device is non-explosive. We don't have enough of the proper materials to make a device that can cause an explosion big enough to destroy it, and since we do not know the location of their element zero drive core, we can't use that either. However, we do have the geth's built in hardline network all over the ship. My disablement device will generate an electromagnetic shock powerful enough to overload the servers and coarse through the network to burn out as many crucial systems as it can reach. The problem is, I expect that the end result will be fatal to us if we're still inside the ship, and it can just as easily hit the hull and disable the Kellius, too. What I designed for it, then, was a timed release structure. Once set and armed, it will begin the disablement process immediately, but with limited power, then increase as time goes on. This will both give us a chance to exfiltrate off of the Valesh'saat, as well as prevent the geth from trying to shut it off while we're away.

"Delivery is simple. We have to place the device in the middle of the server and database room and connect leads to each mainframe. It's kind of big, but I was able to modularize it into six parts small enough to be carried. They can be quickly reassembled in the server room." Bela sat back down.

"Thank you," Siri said. "Now, the tricky part is getting to the server room." Siri tapped on her omni-tool and the view on the ship zoomed back out. A dot outside the model blinked on and off. "This is where we will be boarding. As you can see, there's considerable walking distance between where we board and our objective. We don't know how many active geth there will be in the ship. It's been theorized that the geth only maintain small groups of units at any time, not including maintenance. With any luck, we should be able to walk straight to the server room."

Tyr stepped forward. "But professionals don't plan for luck. A large group will be easy to track, and more likely to bring unwanted attention, so we originally planned to split the strike into two teams of four."

"Two groups of four?" Ralik wondered aloud. "There are nine of us here. Who's getting left behind?"

"Kar'Welkas will remain on the ship," Tyr explained. "His job in this mission is to keep the Kellius ready for dust-off and to be our eyes on the outside. He will monitor the geth for any major changes in flight patterns or behavior that might indicate that they've started looking for the Kellius." Tyr pressed a button on his omni-tool again and a bunch of lines within the wireframe highlighted. "Unfortunately, the device could not be split into any less than six pieces. We _need_ all of the parts to arrive at once, which means we have reorganized the two teams to a six to two split."

"What in Omega's toilets would a two-man team do in a geth homeship?" Kevin asked.

"I'm glad you asked, Folner," Siri said with a nod. "We know little about how the geth handle situations, but we do have an idea of how they handle threats with a very limited supply of counter-measure. They prioritize. The original plan was to have the two teams switch back and forth with making the most destructive noise. This was to cause the geth to reassess who was the bigger threat, and as such, redirect the focus of their units continuously between the two teams. Since we've had to skew the split more to one team, the second team no longer has the capacity to fight large numbers of geth for any extended amount of time. The flipside to this is that a smaller team can move quicker and evade the geth for longer periods of time while still being considered the bigger threat. This 'distraction team' will instead focus on retaining all of the geth's attention whilst continuously moving around, freeing up the payload team to swiftly move to the objective."

"Sounds like suicide to me," Kevin noted.

Siri continued. "These highlighted areas are various interconnected hallways and what look like smaller service tunnels. They each have many crossing paths, so the second team will have this map uploaded to them for reference when evading flanking geth and looking for new evasion paths. There are also a couple of ways to reach the server room through these, so the second team should try to meet up with the first team once the disablement device is in the process of being set up. It's our guess that the geth will not take kindly to us walking into their community home with a bomb. Things will probably get heavy at that point."

"Once the device is set," Tyr said, "the fourth and final phase begins. The simple objective there is to exfil to the Kellius and head straight for the relay. We don't know how the geth units will be affected as the disablement device continues to do its job, so we should be prepared for plenty of resistance. We also think the geth fleet will be crippled enough by the destruction of their source of neural links that we should just be able to fly on through, but we'll hold the stealth system as long as we can. Any questions?"

Ralik was the first to voice concern. "So we'll just be walking around the inside of their ship? What about alarms? Sensors?"

"Our suits have limited aftermarket signal scramblers built into them," Siri said. "It takes an incoming signal, be it communications or scans and redirects them elsewhere to hide the fact that there was anything actually there to be scanned. It only works on the small scale level of individuals, but you saw the effects yourself when we came aboard. Terra didn't know what we were despite the obvious nature of our environmental suits. You and Dolannus do not have any, but Tosh has been working with Arla on creating something for you two. As for the alarms, we should be able to avoid setting anything off as long as we don't come into contact with a geth patrol or physically interact with any electronic components."

"I've never been inside a geth structure before, but what if there are doors? Controlled by those very electronic components." Kevin asked.

"Tosh, hard at work as he has been over the past couple days, has that covered too," Siri responded. "There's a program he has built which forces a door into a power cycling mode. During that time, which is only a matter of seconds, you can open it and it will only appear to the geth that it lost power for a moment. We don't know how long before the geth figure that out, but it'll give us some time."

"Convenient," Ralik pointed out.

"You can thank admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh," Tosh said. "Any technology that plays with a geth subsystem has been provided by her research crew for purposes of field testing and experimentation. Or so she claims."

"Alright, you guys win. I'm done with the questions," Kevin said, hands up.

"The only matter left to address the teams," Tyr said to Siri.

"Indeed," Siri responded and turned to look at her team. "Second Lieutenant Arla'Tavval, since you and Kevin seem to be enjoying each other's company of late, you two will be the distraction team."

"You're serious, aren't you," Arla half-stated. Siri nodded and Arla let her head fall back some before looking to Kevin and then back to her captain. "Yes ma'am," she said in a dreary tone.

Tyr stepped forward. "It's not quite as simple as the captain makes it seem. You two were both recognized as the individuals most able to adapt to the dangerous and straining situations that team two demands."

While that flattered Kevin, it didn't appear to make any difference to Arla.

"Everyone else except for Welkas is on my team," Siri continued. "Gear up, people. This will be a very sensitive and direct mission. No deviance will be allowed. Tosh, that means no going off to collect data on the geth's internal hardware, understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Tosh responded neutrally.

"Dismissed," Siri said with a wave of the hand.

Everyone picked up to leave. Even Kevin, who had a habit of hanging around for a few extra words with someone stood and left the room as well. Not that it would have mattered. Siri and Tyr were leaving with them as they all headed for the cargo bay where their equipment was stored. The Kellius didn't have any place to designate as the armory, so everyone simply stored their gear in one of two crates off to the side of the bay.

The crew was silent as they gathered up all of their weapons, equipment, thermal clips and bomb segments. It was almost as if nobody wanted to add to the unspoken tension that was building. No one wanted to admit it, but it was difficult not to get anxious before a mission like this. They were walking into the heart of a massive geth ship. It was impossible not to think that something could go horribly wrong.

Kevin started taking mental stock of all his things so that he'd have a good idea of where he stood while on the field. One Kassa Fabrication pistol, modded. One Rokensov assault rifle. One knife. Three EMP grenades. Ten thermal clips, eight ejectable heat sinks a piece.

As Kevin was finishing up his mental list, Tosh approached him. "Here you go, Folner. An extrasuit scrambler. I'll get you and Dolannus a more permanent version later. Just stick it somewhere on your suit, preferably on the back."

Kevin took the flat, circular device from Tosh. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. "Thanks, Tosh. The captain had you working overtime the past few days, eh?"

He nodded and drew in a long breath. "Just following orders." Tosh then stepped away to give Ralik his as well.

"And one scrambler," Kevin said to himself, adding to his mental list. He reached behind his back and let the device stick to the suit above the weapon holster clip.

He moved over to stand next to Arla, who had also just finished gearing up. Her most notable pieces of equipment were the same as when he first saw her after leaving the whitewashed planet. A sniper rifle collapsed over her shoulder, a Rosenkov pistol at her hip and a bandolier full of thermal clips running shoulder to opposite waist down her torso.

"So I guess we get to be the bait," he said to her, his voice partially withheld.

"Are you with me, then, Folner?" She asked in similar volume.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kevin responded, attempting to not be offended by such a question.

"I know you haven't exactly been excited for this mission. I just want to make sure you'll have my back out there."

"I'm not about to simply let a squadmate die just because I don't completely agree with the idea of being there. Don't take my word for it, though. You'll see when things get tough. I hope you can keep up when that happens."

Arla stared at Kevin for a bit longer before responding. "Good."

Just then, Bela approached Kevin and Arla with four brick-like objects in her hands. She was also decked out in all her gear, covered in dangling objects and explosives with her oversized launcher peering ominously over her head and her Rosenkov shotgun collapsed on the small of her back.

"Here. These will help you draw the geth's attention at a moment's notice."

"Explosives?" Arla asked.

"Remote controlled. These are my babies, so play nice with them. And make sure not to cut off an escape route with clumsy placement, okay?"

"Thanks, Bela. These will definitely help," Kevin said.

"Just don't die in there," Bela replied. "I don't envy you two right now. You've got a messy job ahead of you."

_"Attention strike teams,"_ Kar announced over the comms. _"We are beginning our approach run now. Dropping speed to just below FTL."_

"If you're geared up and ready to go, get to the briefing room and standby for deployment," the captain ordered.

"Yes ma'am," everyone replied.

Since everyone was just about ready anyways, everyone left the cargo bay at once and headed upstairs. As they headed up to the top deck, they could almost feel the inertial change from the engines shutting off. As they stepped up to the first deck and headed into the briefing room, the heard Kar announce once more.

_"Emissions are now all within spectrum range. Engaging the stealth system."_

"It'll be around an hour of drifting before we anywhere near close enough to make our next move," the captain stated. "If you need to eat something, do it now."

A lot of his squadmates took the opportunity to go grab some grub, but Kevin remained. His stomach wasn't feeling right anyways. He took a seat at the briefing table and waited patiently, anxiously, for the time to deploy to arrive. Ralik had also remained, and looked more uneasy than Kevin felt. He found that odd considering Ralik's past seemingly neutral stance towards all this.

"Hey, Ralik, you doing alright?" Kevin asked. It was too out of place for him _not_ to ask.

"Yes. Just... I know we're about take part in this important mission and all. I can't bring myself to be ready to step through that airlock, Kevin."

"Well, why not? It's not like it's a moral conflict for you."

"It's just going to sound like I'm making an excuse, but you know why. It's like I need to prepare more. I need more things figured out in my head." Ralik started drumming his fingers together.

"Oh, I see what's going on. You're going to blame it on your 'condition'. It's a little late to be using that excuse now, man."

"Now you see why I am no longer part of the Special Tasks Group."

Kevin frowned. Talking Ralik into being ready wasn't going to work. He needed a way of getting him right in there when it came time to roll. The more he thought about how Siri operated during the quarian extraction, however, the more he decided that she probably wouldn't allow Ralik enough room to wiggle himself into a delay.

Even with the brief conversation with Ralik, it hardly seemed like he waited at all for the others to get back. Soon all his comrades were returning and Siri was heading up to the bridge to get a look at the geth fleet through the viewports. Tyr joined her as well, and Kevin found a reason to move from his chair.

When he stepped into the bridge, he went to stand behind Kar'Welkas as the young quarian prepared himself to handle one of the most precise piloting sessions he had ever performed. After no more than two minutes of staring at the distant sparkle of mass relay light reflecting off of the geth fleet, one of the terminals beeped. That particular terminal was quickly dominated by a screen depicting the current geth fleet layout.

"Initial scans are coming in. We should be getting an idea of what the fleet looks like soon," Kar noted. "As you can see, I spun the Kellius around to face forward so we can take active visual note."

As the Kellius silently sped towards the slowly enlarging sparkle of concentrated geth, the terminals continued to pour information over anyone stubborn enough to stare at their screen for more than a few seconds.

"Shut the scans down, Welkas," Siri ordered. "We're getting close now. We don't want them deducing that the scans are coming from an approaching source."

"Great timing, captain," Kar said. "We just got enough data to build a clearer render of the fleet."

Siri quickly sat herself in the chair to Kevin's left and started going through the terminal data. Eventually she switched to the render of the geth fleet and started a search for their target. As she searched, she briefly paused on geth ships whose configuration Kevin did not recognize. He reasoned that she was taking mental note of those ships for a later debrief with the Admiralty Board. Even with the frequent pauses in her search, it took her less than two minutes to lock down the location of the geth homeship in relation to the Kellius. This visual representation was far clearer than that of the old quarian data, but Kevin would wait to see the actual ship with his eyes before committing it to memory.

Soon the geth fleet was quickly enlarging in the viewports. Kar had his fingers poised to call down the reverse thrusters, but he waited. And waited. Before long, it looked as though they were about to fly full speed into a dense field of massive metal pieces, and probably die within seconds. Even the captain was expressing unease about his methods, slowly calling his name as they approached. Just after she finished, though, Kar hit the thrusters to full and the Kellius rocked a bit under the immense strain of suddenly having a powerful opposite force pull on it. The fast moving geth ships in the viewports slowed to a crawl just as the Kellius breached through the outside perimeter. Kar was a bold kid.

Kar then took full control of the Kellius' most minute movements. He was constantly working on something to smooth out the slow drift of the vessel. Siri relayed the data of the homeship's whereabouts to one of Kar's terminal screens and he promptly altered their course by means of short landing and docking thruster boosts with the occasional power to the thrusters to make a major and punctual change in direction. Despite his being younger than Kevin, he was handling the ship like a professional, each move seeming to be precalculated based on their immediate surroundings.

Once Kar cleared around a few geth transports to make the final stretch, the immense ship came into full sight of the viewports. It was, for all intents and purposes, massive. It's design was not unlike some of the cruiser-class ships that attacked the Citadel a while back, but its size, as Kevin correctly guessed, rivaled that of the great military dreadnoughts.

"Wow," Kevin said aloud. "And we're going to disable that? I was right, you guys really are insane."

Nobody said a word of retort to Kevin's remark. He wasn't sure if it was because they didn't want to admit it or if they were simply ignoring him in favor of focusing on the mission. As they drifted their way under the beast of a ship, it mattered less and less.

"There," Tyr said as he pointed to a small nub of an outcropping on the homeship's hull. "That's where we make our entrance."

Kar nodded and methodically maneuvered the ship around so that the external airlock door was lightly pressed against the hull of the homeship. The Kellius moved slowly, but smoothly. It was easy to see, even through his visor, that he was concentrating entirely on making the contact with the homeship firm, but as silent as possible. The distinctive sound of metal slowly grinding on metal could be heard throughout the bridge until Kar forced the docking magnets – the ones that usually held the boarding corridor to the ship – to turn on. All engines and thrusters shut off and the ship began to settle in place firmly against the geth ship's underbelly. When silence returned in full to the bridge, the sound of multiple held breaths being let free took over the room's ambiance.

"Well done, Welkas," the captain praised with a firm grip on Kar's shoulder. "The rest is up to us. Remember to keep an eye on the fleet's movements and watch for incoming directed scans. Keep us informed of any major changes."

"Yes ma'am," Kar confidently replied.

"Alright, teams," she continued. "Team one will use comms cycling algorithm five. Team two will use algorithm fifteen. Nine will be for cross-communication, but we should only use it if we need to. That should keep the geth from identifying or locating our transmissions for a quite a while."

The once friendly, personable captain was different now, much like she was back on L5288 in the wreck. She was giving orders quickly and cleanly like she had been doing it all her life. Efficiency and adaptability were becoming her only traits again. This mission was important to her – probably more than Kevin could ever know – and she showed it in the way she commanded her marines.

"Both teams, into the airlock. Rolush, Garloh, Merni, get that hull open. Be quick, but don't cut any hardlines. If your omni-tool tells you to stop, then stop. Dolannus, get over here. Don't let me see you hesitate like that again."

All at once, the three called stepped forward into the airlock while tapping on their omni-tools. There was a brilliant shower of sparks from three different sources as everyone crowded in with the door shutting behind them. The airlock began to cycle to compensate for the slow leak of atmosphere around the imperfect seal that was a hull pressed against a hull. With each of the three marines cutting a little over thirty percent their way clockwise, they eventually cut free a rounded square section of the hull big enough for one person to crouch through at a time.

_"Tavval, Folner. On point,"_ Siri said over the comms.

"Yes, ma'am," they replied in tandem while stepping forward.

The three cutters strained and pulled the not-so-near-weightless chunk of hull inside the airlock and moved aside for Kevin and Arla. This resulted in the higher-pressure airlock effectively venting into the geth ship, which apparently had a much lower atmospheric pressure. The quarian sniper crouched into the threshold first, scoping out the area just inside to make sure there was no welcoming party. Fortunately, there wasn't. Arla, who was expecting to be climbing up into the ship ended up jumping out and falling ever so slowly towards the aft of the vessel, which should have been a wall. Her feet hit the ground with a light tap, and a faintly visible layer of particles resembling dust kicked up and swirled at her base.

In next was Kevin. He peeked his head inside to get a feel for the type of environment he'd be working in as he pulled out his assault rifle and held it at the ready. His first observation was that it was hardly lit. It all had some level of blue-hued ambient lighting thanks to small bar-like lights around the corners of the room, but that light was suppressed to say the least. The second thing he noticed was the near lack of artificial gravity. As he hopped out of the hole in the hull, he too fell towards what he originally perceived as the wall of the room, but he fell so lightly and so slowly that it was obvious that the gravity here was well below what he was used to.

After a quick look about the room, he found that the ship seemed to be designed with this direction of gravity in mind. It was then that he remembered something about dreadnought class ships done by his own species: The mass effect gravity well in huge ships has always been at the far aft of the ship where the engines rest because large ship deck design is perpendicular to the axis of thrust. Normally this was because the inertial effects of thrust could be used in tandem with artificial gravity to pull the crew to the floor and reduce spaceborn atrophy. But why would a geth, a synthetic being with no worry of atrophy, do this as well?

The answer, to Kevin, was easier to come by than others. All the geth he knew of used a bipedal or quadpedal design. Such designs would be horribly inefficient in zero gravity, so having a small amount to make use of the design was a much simpler solution than modifying all geth units to operate efficiently in both gravity and lack thereof. When the ship is moving, the thrust takes care of all the gravity-like effects since the amount the geth need to walk was minimal at best. Since they weren't moving, though, they used mass effect generated gravity like most ships. With those questions answered, he focused on the mission.

Kevin switched the algorithm to nine, the one for team cross-communication. "Entry is clear. No alarms, no hostiles. Gravity is about point two to that of the ship, centered at the aft. Atmospheric pressure is..." He glanced to his omni-tool for the readings. "Barely there. About point one to that of the ship."

_"Received,"_ radioed Tyr.

"Just barely enough to radiate heat away from machinery," Arla noted.

Kevin and Arla moved to the center of the large, empty room and pulled up the map on their omni-tools. There were five ways out of the room – two to the left, two to the right and one dead ahead. They opted for a door on the left furthest from their entryway, which, according to their map, should eventually lead to a maintenance tunnel network. That should give them the opportunity to get far enough away from the other team for the distraction to be effective. Assuming it even came to that.

Siri radioed to both teams._"Team one is entering. Remember people, keep an eye on your heat. This thin atmosphere won't do well in venting your heatsinks during heavy combat. Keep cross-communication at a minimum. Let's get this done, marines."_ The captain didn't pull any punches. She wanted this done right.

The door that Kevin and Siri selected was sealed shut, likely as an automatic reaction to the small, but sudden change in pressure from the airlock venting into the room. Arla activated her omni-tool's cutter and started cutting her way down the center split of the door. Meanwhile, Kevin made ready to be sure the hallway beyond was clear once it was open. Seconds later, her cutting was done and she pulled the door apart. Kevin quickly spun off the wall to aim down through the opening door. Fortunately, that area was also empty.

Arla pulled out her sniper rifle and they both started on their trek into the barely known. They looked back for a moment to see Bela and the captain hopping out of the hole in the hull before turning to face each other. Kevin flicked his head to indicate that they should get moving. He didn't know if they would end up actually encountering geth troops after such a seemingly silent entry, but he wanted to be prepared. In his mind, there was precious little time to set up their little distraction.

Down at the end of the dimly lit passageway, they came to a dead end. Their maps indicated that this was a maintenance tunnel drop off and enter point, but they saw nothing but irregular walls and an occasional blue light. Arla elbowed Kevin in the side to get his attention and pointed up. She was pointing to a hole in the ceiling that looked like it was a hatch without a door. Kevin nodded to her direction and executed a jump. The very low gravity in the ship allowed him to almost float right to the aperture. He grasped the edge with one hand and pulled himself up enough to get a look inside.

It was a tunnel, alright, but not quite as he would have come to expect. It wasn't perfectly circular at all like the entrance suggested. Instead, it looked less like a designed quick access tunnel and more like empty space between rooms and machinery that someone could pass through. The synthetic equivalent to natural cave paths linking underground structures in the form of hardly used alternate routes. More importantly, it was a tight space to move through. Kevin estimated that he wouldn't be able to do more than crouch-walk his way through. With his initial inspection done, he hoisted himself into the tunnel with relatively little effort.

His estimates were right. Crouch-walking would be the extent of his mobility here, and even that was hard to pull off. He had to wonder how geth bodies, as bulky around the shoulders as they were, might have been able to navigate these tunnels quickly enough for it to be considered a 'maintenance tunnel'. This made him wonder if that's what it actually was in the first place. There wasn't a lot of room for wondering, though. There was hardly enough for squatting. Once he crawled his way in a tad further, Arla hopped up and climbed in as well, forcing him to move in further to avoid being knocked over.

Both of them holstered their main guns and pulled out their pistols. They hoped they wouldn't encounter trouble while in such tight space since their main guns were too bulky to use, but simply going unarmed through enemy territory was definitely out of the question. Step by step, they each inched their way along the small, irregular ever-changing corridor. As they got well beyond the entrance, Kevin began to notice how quiet everything had been since they had arrived. The only sounds to be heard were the ones they generated, and those seemed to echo endlessly in the tunnel. Whenever they stopped moving, though, Kevin could hear a faint, perpetual hum. It sounded like the source was on a far end of the ship, but no matter where they moved, the hum never changed intensity, pitch or direction. An omni-present, mechanical hum that followed them like a shadow watching just over their shoulder.

As they progressed, they noticed that the space they followed was even less like a tunnel than they thought. Not only did it fail to follow any sense of the traditional enclosed nature of tunnels, but its walls, floor or ceiling were missing on several occasions. Kevin and Arla could look down into various rooms through what seemed to be intentionally unfinished portions of a ceiling or wall. Not in the sense that wires were exposed or pieces were hanging, but the 'holes' seemed to be as irregular in shape as the corridor. Arla and Kevin silently exchanged agreement that those would make easy entrance points for any smaller geth at any point in time. With that in mind, they picked up the pace.

They soon came to a six-way junction in the tunnel. Their maps only indicated that there were four ways, but the direction they intended on following down a couple of decks was there. The inconsistency was a moot point for the moment. They followed the tunnel down by applying friction against the wall wherever they could touch to control their laughably slow fall speed. After they dropped about four decks, they pulled themselves into a side tunnel similar to the one they dropped from.

They spent another six minutes or so creeping their way into the heart of the geth ship before they paused to collectively decided on a room on their map to place some of the explosives. The room they picked was connected to a vast network of halls and tunnels that could easily be used to help them evade most, if not all of the geth that would no doubt try to swarm and flank them. Kevin estimated about two more minutes of crawling along before they reached that room. Just before he and Arla resumed their trek, though, they heard something out of place. Echos of fast paced metal taps in the tunnel coming from the direction they were heading in. It was the first noise of any kind they had heard since their arrival, so their first reaction was to freeze and try and gather more information on the source.

Arla and Kevin looked to each other to see if one of them had figured it out yet. Apparently, neither had. They couldn't see the source of the noise, but that was expected. The twists, turns and irregular nature of this tunnel didn't give them much in the way of visibility. One thing was evident, though – whatever was causing the noise, it was heading their way, and fast. Kevin immediately searched his surroundings for some place to move to. Somewhere to hide, or at least get out of the way. He could probably destroy what was coming with his biotics, but they weren't yet in a position where they wanted any attention. Getting noticed now wasn't in their best interest.

Kevin noticed a nook above him bigger than his body but smaller than the reach of his limbs. With as quiet a motion as possible, he leapt up into the space of the nook and stretched out his arms and legs to wedge himself in place. With the gravity as low as it was, it didn't take a huge amount of effort to remain there. He watched Arla backtrack somewhere out of his sight due to the edge of his nook, and he hoped she had an idea of where to go.

The tapping noise echoed louder and louder. It was less than forty five seconds, by Kevin's count, before the source arrived. As the object passed below him at surprising speed, Kevin got a short but full on look. It was a geth, as expected, but not like the typical infantry or combat type that he was familiar with. It was much more slender, lacking in armor entirely. It crawled on all fours, but its 'fingers' and 'toes' were longer than normal geth, even to a creepy degree. It reminded him of the geth 'hoppers' that no one had really seen in any number since the attack on the Citadel, but its features were slightly different. Its body was covered in tools which appeared to Kevin to be modular in nature, as if it could pull them off its body to be used in hand. The last major thing he noticed was how it moved. It crawled very low to the ground and its appendages moved fast enough so that it almost appeared to be slithering along. _So that's how they used this small space so efficiently_, Kevin thought.

Whatever it actually was, it failed to notice Kevin and speedily crawled on. As the tapping grew fainter and fainter, Kevin had to assume that Arla had also found a way to avoid detection. This was good news. He waited another minute in his nook just to be sure that it didn't have backup or turn around to see what it missed. By then, the echoing taps had all but been overtaken by the ever present hum of the ship, and Arla appeared under him. She motioned for him to stop playing around and get moving. Kevin dropped from his hiding place and swiftly resumed his course to the room they picked out for the explosives.

Two minutes later, Arla and Kevin were standing over a hole that occupied most of the floor of the tunnel as well as the left wall. They couldn't seem much of the room from here, but what they could see indicated a lack of activity, like most everywhere else. Kevin never expected a geth homeship to be so devoid of movement. He then reminded himself of what geth were. They were artificial intelligence. Programs and processes. To have to inhabit the synthetic bodies so widely known and exist in a universe that doesn't exactly move at the speed of light must seem as hugely inefficient to beings of pure data. He wondered if the geth ever felt frustration at that fact, or contempt for the constructs they controlled. Could they even feel those things?

Kevin snapped himself out of the untimely philosophical examination of the nature of AI and once again focused on his mission. He laid down on the floor of the tunnel and let his head fall into the room below. Unfortunately, the hole seemed to be depressed into the ceiling of the room he aimed to observe and the only thing he gained a view of from here was a wider portion of empty floor. Kevin pulled his head back up and signaled to Arla that he was going to drop in and that she should wait for his okay before following. She nodded and Kevin hopped over the ledge.

His decent was slow. Painfully so. The few seconds it took for his view to clear the ceiling were full of anxiousness – he wasn't the type of guy to just jump in blindly. What he saw around him after that, though, filled his heart with instant dread and caused adrenaline to shoot into his bloodstream.

He was slowly dropping into a room surrounded by standing geth.

He pulled his gun up and at the ready, but he quickly noticed that none of them were looking in his direction. In fact, each of the thirty or so geth in the room were like zombies – motionless and seemingly completely unaware that he had even entered the room. Additionally, they were all facing or perhaps focusing on large objects jutting from the floor. These objects were taller than the geth, and had to be a couple meters in diameter. It didn't look like much to Kevin outside that. Finally, his boots came into contact with the floor, generating the slightest of taps. Kevin kept his posture defensive, his pistol ready to fire at the first sign of threat.

But none came.

The geth remained motionless and inattentive. At first, he was utterly confused. He was standing amongst a host of enemies on their very own turf, and they were ignoring him. He then went back to his extremely recent thought about the nature of AI. Programs and processes. Was it that the geth troops around him were effectively empty? Could geth leave their bodies and download to a server? If that was the case and they uploaded themselves elsewhere, that meant that they wouldn't be aware of his presence no matter how close to the synthetic bodies he got. Not to say he was interested in testing that theory, of course. They were ignoring him, and that was good enough for now.

He signaled for Arla and she was on her way down only seconds later. Her initial reaction to seeing all the geth in the room was much the same as Kevin's, despite him standing there for at least a minute. When she got a better look at what was going on, she confirmed Kevin's suspicions.

"Looks like all these geth are uploaded to their central server a few decks away. I think those big things they are standing around are uplink nodes."

"Scared the piss out of me," Kevin admitted and let loose an overdramatized shudder. "Let's get these explosives placed. I get the feeling it's only a matter of time until we need to use them. Uh, will they wake up if we set these?"

"As long as we don't touch them," she warily replied. "They might be monitoring for physical changes, at most. As far as I'm told, they don't really maintain any connection with the platform when uploaded to another medium. It's so another host of processes can use it if need be."

"Alright, then let's tag this place and move on," Kevin said as he pulled out a brick of explosives and started walking towards one of the nodes.

Arla suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him in place. "Wait! Stop!"

"What?" Kevin asked in a hushed tone.

"Look at the floor. See the glowing areas?"

Kevin looked down and saw a faintly glowing section of the floor, perhaps around ten inches wide, running from a wall off to the side to the node he was approaching. "What in the..."

"I heard about this from research done on a big downed geth ship a while back. The rooms like this one with the nodes aren't made of the same material as the others. It's made of a type of semi-conductor unknown to us that allows large amounts of data to pass through it like a hardline wire. It'll change position and direction depending on where it is sending and receiving data. If you step on it..."

"It disturbs the connection and alerts them to our presence. Got it."

Kevin drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. There were several nodes in the room, each with it's own data stream sprawling across the floor and walls. If he even so much as accidentally tapped a corner with his heel, they'd suddenly have thirty geth bearing down on them within the second. He took extra care when stepping around and over them, as did Arla. They stuck the majority of the explosives on the nodes with the highest concentrations of geth around them. As he worked, Kevin noticed that every single geth trooper body here had a weapon of some sort. Most had the widely familiar pulse rifle, but some had others. One even looked like a geth version of a shotgun. Kevin had to wonder if it was some sort of annoying default setting that every geth outside of maintenance units have a weapon. This certainly didn't make anything easier.

Once everything was set and armed, Kevin and Arla met at the door leading to the hallway they wanted to move out to. It was locked, seemingly by default, but Arla was already working on it. She accessed the program that Tosh had provided earlier and caused the door to powercycle, at which point she made it open.

The hallway outside that room was identical appearance-wise as the others they had seen. Clearly the geth did not need landmarks to differentiate anything, nor did they have the ability to appreciate aesthetic appeal. There were things bulging out all over the place – opaque tubes jutting from the floor and ceiling, huge capacitors lining the sides of the hall and terminals that lacked haptic adaptive interfaces – but overall the hallways looked pretty much the same. If it weren't for that mostly-accurate map of theirs, they'd be lost for certain. Occasionally a particular hall would surprise them with a collection of crates or electronics, which were good for cover, but useless to them otherwise.

A few hallways down from where they set most of the explosives, they came to a four-way junction. Arla turned to Kevin and nodded. "We should set the rest here," she said. "There's a lot of semi-exposed electrical systems here, so it'll do more damage than just sticking them to a wall."

"And it might mess this junction enough to severely slow the flow of geth if we start to get overrun. I guess the decision to be made is whether we-"

Kevin's statement was cut short by the sound of Tyr's voice over the comms.

"Team two, this is team one. We've got ourselves a mess."


	26. Chapter 25

_**Chapter 25**_

_"Team two, this is team one. We've got ourselves a mess," _Tyr said with irritated alarm in his voice.

Kevin and Arla quickly looked at each other and switched their comms to the cross-communication cycling algorithm. "How bad?" Arla asked.

_"Local geth coming off of nodes for the moment. We were able to take most of them down, but enough have gotten away that they can easily put the entire ship on full alert. Expect trouble at your location too, just to be sure."_

"Understood," Arla replied before she turned to talk to Kevin. But... He wasn't there. "Kevin?"

"Over here, behind you," he replied. She turned to look at him as he was placing his last explosive high up in a corner of the junction.

"What are you doing? We have to set off the others," she said as she quickly went to set hers on the opposite corner.

"Not yet," Kevin said after stepping back to the center of the junction.

"Why not? This is what our only objective is! To pull geth troops from them to us!" She finished setting hers and stepped back to the middle with Kevin.

"Think about it, Arla. If we light these explosives now, we'll wake the entire ship regardless of whether they have or not. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not prematurely find out just how many combat ready geth are available right now."

"But we-"

Kevin put his hands on her shoulders. "They can handle themselves quite well for now. It's not until the pressure on them gets much higher that our distraction will have the most benefit for both teams."

Kevin caught her trying to hide her clenching fists, but she quickly let them go and looked off to the side. "Then we should be prepping, not wasting time here." She broke free of Kevin's point-making grasp and started down one of the three hallways they hadn't been down yet.

"I'm glad you see things my way?" he said as he began chasing after her.

They both pulled out their main weapons as they headed down the hallway. Suddenly, the dim ambiance brightened from a deep blue to a white-blue. They paused their run for a moment to look back down the hallway passed the junction and saw that it wasn't just the hallway they were in, either. It seemed the entire section of the ship was lighting up. Kevin was pretty sure at this point that it was in response to team one's ruckus, but kept his gun ready anyways. There was no telling where geth were being stirred from their zombie-like silence.

Almost as if his thoughts were the unfortunate cue, a door ahead of them on the right opened up and the stuttering buzz of geth communication echoed into the hallway. This particular hall was sorely lacking in protrusions and crates for cover, so Kevin and Arla both ducked low and to the side of the hallway with Kevin crouched just in front of Arla. Her hand rested on his shoulder palm up with the long barrel of the her sniper rifle resting on that.

"I've got the rapid fire weapon, so I'll make you a deal," Kevin said.

"You whittle down the shields and I make the killshot?" she asked.

"Deal," Kevin responded as three geth troops emerged from the doorway.

None of them were prepared for a firefight, as they had yet to pull out their weapons. This gave Kevin and Arla plenty of time to litter the tightly packed group of three with a rain of projectiles, followed by three incredibly powerful mass accelerator sniper shots, each to the head. Kevin was surprised how quickly she pulled off such accurate hits. Impressed, even.

They didn't wait to see if more geth were going to pop out. They didn't hear any more of the trademark stuttering sound the geth always made, so they picked up and headed forward. As they passed the room the geth came from, Kevin briefly looked inside for confirmation that there were none left. He expected to find a room with a node, but what he saw was fairly different. Enough for him to stop to examine it further.

"Wait," he called to Arla.

"We don't have time to wait," she spat back.

"Then make time. This could be important. Look."

Arla sighed and took a look in the room, probably expecting to see what Kevin expected. "Well, we certainly haven't seen that yet."

They both stepped into the room to get a better look. The room was much smaller than the one they passed through earlier with the nodes, and it was empty. There was, however, one major difference. The far wall wasn't just a wall – it had an equidistant set of three square holes spanning its length. They were each the same size – big enough for Kevin to crawl in with no effort – and not irregular enough to be maintenance tunnel entrances. As they stepped closer, they could see something moving inside. It looked like there was an active rail system moving at very high speed, but there was nothing on the rails.

"What do you make of this?" Arla asked.

Kevin, against his better judgment, poked his head inside the hole to get a look at the rail system and where it was coming from. He couldn't see much, however. It was not lit.

"Well, this is somewhat similar to something that high volume distribution centers moving hundreds of thousands of crates of goods a day would have. Why would the geth... Ah, crap. I think I know what's going on here."

"What? What this is-"

Arla's question was cut off by Kevin suddenly pulling his head in. Mere milliseconds afterwards, a bunch of large silvery objects flew by the holes so fast that neither of them could get a good look. Kevin then stepped off to the side of the holes, as if expecting something to happen.

"Might want to stand to the side. Just in case," he suggested.

But before Arla could act on that, one of the same silvery objects shot out of each of the holes in the wall. Startled, the quarian jumped off to the side to avoid a crushing blow. She was only able to keep her footing upon landing because she had stumbled into the adjacent wall. Both of them looked intently at the objects that shot out as they came to a skidding stop on the floor. The very moment they recognized the objects, they started to unfold. They were geth, folded up the way they often were when shot from transports. Kevin and Arla were smart enough to keep them from unfolding completely, though, and a few shots at the currently unshielded, half-folded geth were enough to destroy them.

"I guess I know _now_," Arla said, still breathing heavily from being startled.

Several more objects flew by the holes, continuing on to other destinations.

"Those are probably on their way to harass team one," Kevin deduced. "There's got to be a way to disable this, but we used up all of our explosives."

Arla didn't seem to have any answers either, and said nothing. Kevin thought of the rail system though, and how he heard stories about an occasional catastrophic accident whenever a strong, solid object jammed up the rails. He didn't have anything that could jam up rails of this speed, but he _did_ have a gun. He took aim through one of the holes at what he gathered were the most crucial parts and shot enough times to make sure that the parts were obliterated. He ejected a heat sink and turned to Arla.

"Let's get moving," Kevin said. "I don't want to be in this room when the next geth hits that."

"Right behind you," Arla said with an agreeing nod.

As soon as the door automatically closed behind them, they heard some loud metallic crashes and sounds of cascading destruction. The lights around the door started blinking red and a strange sound filled the air with it's repetition. Kevin figured that was some sort of alarm. With that in mind, he and Arla promptly continued down the hall in hopes of finding an area with more usable cover than this one. At the end of the hallway, they came to a T junction, with one hall heading right and one hall heading left. Their maps only showed a right path, but the path on the left had more immediate cover. Kevin and Arla looked to each other to pose the same silent question.

"Normally I'd choose the left path, but..." Arla began to reason.

"But getting lost here is _not_ something we want to have to deal with. Our plan relies on us knowing where we are going at least a little bit."

"Agreed," she quickly replied and they both moved on.

It turned out that the hallway they headed down eventually sported fairly good cover as well. Their arrival at that particular area was timely, as they also ran into a small group of armed geth. Both groups stared at each other for a brief moment before team two dived behind massive capacitors on opposite sides of the hallway. As if that wasn't enough to focus on, Tyr contacted them on the comms again.

_"Any time you kids want to stop making out and employ that distraction would be nice. We're starting to get overwhelmed up here! Our progress is going to grind to a halt if we don't get some relief!"_

Arla responded first. "We're _not_ making out-"

Kevin quickly cut her off from her banter. "Sit tight for one more minute, team one. We're just about ready to execute."

"Hmph. Apparently destroying that delivery system wasn't enough to get their attention," Arla said as she took some shots at the oncoming geth troops.

"That's because they didn't know it was us. This should seal the deal, though!" Kevin switched his suit's audio so that the geth could actually hear him. "Hey, you goons, you like explosives? Well we've got a nice treat for you! Say cheese – I mean bbrbrrbrrbrrbrbrrrt!"

Kevin switched back an lifted his arm with the omni-tool lit up high enough to clear the capacitor so that the geth could see him press the button. "Arla, light 'em up."

Simultaneously, they both detonated the first set of explosives – the ones in the room with all the uplink nodes. The area quaked and a loud explosion echoed all around them. Kevin risked a peek at the geth ahead of them and noticed a fairly major change – the light on their head was now red, and they were no longer just fighting defensively.

"Looks like that did it," Kevin said to his counterpart.

"Great," she said without surprise. "By the way, what was _that_ supposed to be?"

"That was the explosions. You know, from the bricks we set?" He quickly leaned out and unloaded a burst of shots at the leading geth, who had decided that it was close enough to storm Kevin's position. Big mistake.

"No, I mean that noise you made. What in Keelah's name was that?"

"It was. . . My horrible attempt at geth-speak." Another burst of shots. "Give me a break, I'm not equipped with digital data projection!"

Arla fired twice, pulled back behind her cover and ejected a heatsink. "You have to admit, though. That was a pretty bad impersonation."

"Oh for the love of GOD." Kevin hopped up and finished off another storming geth. Two left. "How about we discuss this _after_ we're not being shot at? Hmm?"

"But I just can't get over how _bad_ it was!" Two more shots from her and another geth hit the floor in a shower of sparks.

"Alright, you win. It was bad. But you know what? I was insulting them. Now can we just drop it?"

Kevin popped up as the final geth ejected a heatsink and dropped its shields with several well placed shots. As he lined up the final shot, the geth's head exploded and it crumpled to the ground.

"Wha- You stole my kill!"

Arla stepped out from behind her cover and posed haughtily at Kevin being a slower shot. She was about to add to it with words, but Tyr boomed on the comms again.

_"Good work, team two. We're mopping up and moving on. We felt that rumble all the way from here just before the geth got rather distracted. A bunch left to relocate, so I... (static)... your way. (static)... hope you can (static)..."_

"Team one?" Arla called. "Garloh? Anyone? Please respond!"

Kevin tapped a few commands into his omni-tool. "Bad news. Looks like the geth figured out we were using cycling channels. They're jamming all of it now. All of it. Except for what I assume is the geth general network."

"We're on our own then."

"For now. In the meantime, lets keep up the distraction and file on over to the server room after we think they should have made it. We still have a job to do."

"Right. You lead. You're the one with the assault rifle, after all."

"Anything you say, your majesty."

As they resumed their trek down they hallway, Kevin prepared to detonate the last charge. "Might as well keep them from using that junction to overwhelm our backside."

Arla nodded and set to detonate hers too. With another deafening boom and a quick rocking of the hallway, the last sets of explosives tore into the ship. Kevin was fairly certain that the geth was focusing on them now. He wondered how long it would take for the ship to get any and all geth troops up and running. He was sure there was some level of manufacturing going on somewhere, especially after seeing the rail delivery system. He gave it about a half an hour, maximum, before they would have to make their final retreat to the server room. Until then, it was going to be a game of 'leapfrog' for cover and 'keep away' from the geth. He thought about adding 'don't step on the lava-filled separations on the floor' for old time's sake, but he reasoned that would be a bit difficult to keep track of while under fire.

The next four-way junction they arrived at presented a fairly unique and decent blockade position. There were two areas just before the corner of the junction at the end of their hallway that provided some pretty good cover from both in front as well as behind. The one on the right side was blind to and completely covered from the right hall, but could easily see and shoot down the left hall. The same was the case for the left side cover. Both could shoot down the forward and backward hallways.

"This looks like an excellent place to hold up for a few minutes," Kevin pointed out. He immediately stepped on over to the cover on the right side of the hall. "As long as we know when to move and to keep an eye out for troops behind, we should be able to hold this junction for a bit. According to the map, we might even be able to wrap around back here later if we're still doing well."

"I'll set a timer for seven minutes. Any longer than that is too long," Arla said as she tapped on her omni-tool. She crouched in the left side cover and not a moment to soon.

"Fair enough. Here comes our first wave."

About six geth started approaching from the center hall. They didn't seem aware right away that Kevin and Arla were waiting in ambush at the opposite side of the junction, but they had their weapons ready nonetheless. Arla nodded to Kevin and they both popped up and opened fire on the wide open geth group. Two dropped right away and the rest scattered while unleashing covering fire. Kevin spotted one towards the back that was a distinctly different color than the others, and slightly larger.

"Arla! Juggernaut in the back!"

Kevin was familiar with several different types of geth, at least enough to know them on sight. He often encountered them on his trips between missions, usually being fought off by groups of mercenaries or small bands of pirates. He's had his own run-ins in the past, most of which consisted of him being outnumbered and forced to retreat or with groups that were small enough to take down on his own. The juggernaut was one of his least favorites, mainly because of strong shielding and the fact that they could periodically fire distortion rockets from their pulse rifles. On any normal world, air resistance and gravity would cause the rockets to only be useful in short and medium range. But here? The lack of air and gravity meant that any distortion rocket fired would likely only be stopped by a wall, a piece of cover, a quarian, or himself. Arla knew this as well, and they both focused fire on it whenever they could.

It wasn't easy with the barrage of fire coming in from the other geth, and the juggernaut was able to launch one distortion rocket before they could finally take it down. The rocket hit the capacitor that Kevin was hiding behind, so he was able to escape that with only a nick to his shields. After that, the focus was back on keeping the regular geth troopers and the occasional shock trooper busy and dead.

One thing Kevin was quickly noticing, however, was that there didn't seem to be an end to the geth. As four went down, four or five slowly filled their place. He and Arla were working as fast and as hard as they could to keep their shields regenerated and to keep the geth from regenerating theirs, but it was becoming clear that Tyr's estimations about being able to handle a large volume of geth with only two people were right on the money.

"Arla, how long?" Kevin shouted above the constant back and forth fire.

"Six minutes!" She said just before popping up to take out another shock trooper before it could get in close.

"We need to move! It's getting too hot at this location!"

"I was hoping you were going to say that!"

The problem was clearing out enough of the geth that were there to move without getting shot to death. This became even more complicated when three geth showed up behind them.

"Arla, if you can somehow disable the three directly across the hall, our shields should be able hold long enough for us to make a break for it straight across!"

"And what do you propose we do about those three behind us?" Arla stayed ducked for the moment. The three behind them were creating crossfire right over their heads.

"I'll handle them. Just do what you can about the three there before more show up! Trust me on this!" Kevin flinched as a shot from a pulse rifle hit the capacitor right next to him and sent sparks all over his armor. Without waiting for confirmation from Arla, Kevin started gathering dark energy to himself. He wasn't going to be able to make it through this mission without using his biotics, that was certain.

"Okay! Their shields are low. I'll cause one of them to overload, which should knock out the two next to it! Ready?"

"Do it!" Kevin shouted.

Arla promptly popped up and hit a button on her omni-tool. The geth in the middle of the three across the junction sparked and jostled before bolts of electricity shot out of it when it exploded. The shock and shockwave smacked the other two hard against the walls and they rattled to the ground. Meanwhile, as Arla was busy with disabling the geth ahead of them, Kevin let loose a furious wave of dark energy at the clustered group of geth quickly catching up to them. All three were lifted off of their feet as they were violently thrown and ultimately pulverized somewhere down the hall.

Arla looked backward to see how Kevin was faring with the three behind them, but all she saw were the distant flashes of sparking geth bodies on the floor further than the hallway they had appeared from.

"What-"

"Go! Go now!"

Arla and Kevin both hurdled their cover and risked taking shots from the two or three that remained in the two side hallways. They took a couple hits a piece, but their shields were able to hold. _Thank God for those stupid Cerberus soldiers,_ Kevin thought. _Without them, we wouldn't have these shield upgrades._ They continued to sprint down the hall until they took a sharp turn to the left around a corner. Just ahead in the hallway was another door on the right side. It opened and Kevin could hear that trademark geth sound he was apparently so bad at impersonating.

He didn't give these geth any chance to react – he sprinted right up beside the door. As soon as the synthetic bodies barely stepped beyond the threshold of the door, Kevin barraged the first with a smattering of projectiles at point blank range where its kinetic barriers proved useless. His heatsink was getting too hot to unleash another barrage, so without even thinking about it, he reached for his knife and took a swipe at the second geth. It cut clean through a set of cables running up to its head, which caused the geth to sputter and stagger about. Kevin wasn't done, though. He had to make sure it was not going to try to shoot them afterwards. He brought the knife around after the horizontal slash at its neck and buried the blade in the single lens on the head. The geth immediately fell backwards and stopped moving.

Kevin sheathed his knife and looked into the room. It was another delivery room with an all too familiar rail setup on the far wall. "Another one of these. Come on, lets get this one too before the others catch up to us." Kevin turned to Arla and flicked his head toward the room.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She was clearly distracted.

"Am I losing you already? Going to fast, maybe?" He said it in a playful tone, or at least, what he thought was a playful tone.

"Hardly. Just watching your CQC skills in action was impressive, that's all."

"Were they?" Kevin folded his arms and looked off to the side. "Pfft. I've had to use more advanced moves than that just to train you. Besides, we need to keep moving if we want to stay ahead of the next wave. Let's bust this thing and go. I'll keep an eye on the hall if you'd like to do the honors. You know where to shoot it, right?"

"I'm not a child, Folner. Just give me a couple seconds." Arla pulled out her pistol and aimed into the holes in the wall. She shot six times and moved away. "Done, let's go."

Similar to the first time, there was a lot of loud crashing and further destruction as soon as the next set of geth passed into that portion of the rails. The lights around the door blinked red, and that was their cue to get a move on. At the very least, that should keep some of the pressure off when they come face to face with the next wave. Down the hall they ran, pausing only once to take some shots at a few geth coming up behind them. They damaged one and killed a second, but didn't hang around to finish the job.

They came to yet another bland four-way junction. This time the corridor straight ahead was missing from their maps. It wasn't a huge deal to them, as long as the direction they intended to move in was there. According to that same map, the hall to their right should almost immediately lead to a room with a door on the backside. Kevin thought that a perfect staging area to slow down the geth, assuming that there was some form of cover inside. It was also only one corridor hop away from a maintenance entrance that they could use to get in close to the server room. They only had to hold out a little longer.

"We can bunker down for a couple minutes here," Arla pointed out. "We don't want to wait too long, though. We almost didn't make it out of that last one."

"Agreed. The geth are getting more numerous and aggressive far earlier than I gave them credit for." Kevin wedged himself between a protruding capacitor and a large opaque tube that went from the wall and into the floor of the same corner.

There were a lot of crates in this area. It seemed to Kevin that they were likely near some storage rooms or larger repository. He didn't have a lot of time to think about it, as geth were already beginning to bear down on them. So much for that half an hour expectation. At this rate they'll be retreating in a total of twenty minutes.

Kevin found it a bit hard to maneuver in this spot. There was far less room to move and shift according to what he was aiming at. Depending on how bad things got, he figured he might just end up calling it early to get into the next room. Once the shots started flying, he thought of something else. What, exactly, was running through that pipe he was pressed against? Was it a cable with gigawatts of power running through it? Was it a canal for coolant? None of these things sounded pleasant to be in the presence of should there be a breach, but the geth didn't seem concerned at all – if they could even be concerned. They just laid down the shots, causing sparks and small wisps of smoke dance over him. All there was to do was shoot back and try not to die.

The problem of geth coming up behind them happened a lot sooner this time, too. Only two at first, but Kevin knew that there would be plenty more to follow. He wriggled himself around to take some shots at the geth trying to flank their rear. He didn't want them to get any lucky shots on Arla while she was busy holding the oncoming geth at bay, and an injury would complicate things beyond what he wanted to bother thinking about right now. The two geth shot back, but only managed to graze his shields from around his cover. A few bursts of rounds later, they dropped. He turned back around to see how Arla was doing. Interestingly enough, there was a slight lull in the waves of geth troopers. After some focused fire, they were able to briefly get themselves a breather.

"We can't stay here. They're already flanking our position," Kevin stated.

"I know, but we can't keep running. Our distraction won't hold up if we just run straight to the server room."

"It'll hold up even less if we're dead, and that means less people to help the others get out. Come on. Next room. We'll be able to hold them better there."

Arla sighed and broke from her cover. "Alright."

Just as they left their spots, the sound of unusually high numbers of geth troops could be heard heading their way from all directions.

Kevin's head fell back in exasperation. "Ah crap. No wonder the number of geth dropped. They're gathering to overwhelm us in one push."

"I'll get the door. Cover me!"

While Arla moved to the door to work her technological magic, Kevin stepped up right behind her and faced out towards the halls. He only saw one or two geth at first. It was a one on one duel to see who could do the most damage to the other first. Thankfully, Kevin's assault rifle had a one up against the geth pulse rifle, but that wouldn't stack up too well against two or three geth. Even worse when destroyers, juggernauts and other specialized geth would start to show up. By now he had taken down two geth in one on one undefended firefights. The rest had yet to arrive.

"Arla, I could _really_ use an open door right about now!"

"It's not reacting to Tosh's program. I'm trying something else."

"Try something else _faster_, woman! I can't cover you from six geth at once!" Another geth peered around the corner and got the best of Kevin's burst fire. As good as it felt to down a geth so quickly, that feeling was abruptly washed away when he saw the main groups of geth coming up the halls.

Kevin held a breath and took aim. Not even his biotics could save him from the onslaught of ten geth from three directions. Just as he was about to pull the trigger and pray for a miracle, he was fiercely yanked from behind into the room they so desperately needed to be in. He was also caught a bit off-guard and fell backwards from the pull. The very second he hit the ground, he rolled to the side to clear himself of the line of sight of the geth massing outside the door. Shots rained into the room after Kevin, but he was well clear of the open space by then. And just like that, the door shut.

"Keelah. That was too close," Arla said as she leaned against the wall the door was in.

Kevin hopped up and looked to Arla to see what she had done. It looked to him like she had jarred open a panel and quickly threw together a hardwire hack to get the door to shut despite all the geth outside telling it to open. Kevin stepped up to it and placed three shots into the hole in the wall littered with wires. A lot of sparks jumped out just then, and there might have even been a lick of fire for a split second.

"Well, looks like we aren't going back that way," Arla said.

"I'm going to take another look at this door. Make sure there are no backup systems that I can find. See if you can get the other door open."

"Yes _sir_," she spat and stepped away to take care of the other door.

Kevin began a brief visual and omni-tool scan of the door. He was looking for anything the geth could use to get it open prematurely. Fortunately, it didn't seem there was much in the way for backup systems on doors.

"Kevin. . ."

"Hold on, almost done."

"Kevin!"

"What?"

"There's no door."

". . . What?"

Kevin spun around to get a better look. The room was littered with the same huge metal boxes that he saw out in the hallway. Down at the other side of the room was Arla, both hands up on the wall where their map said there should have been a door into another corridor.

"No. No no no no!" Kevin ran across the room and felt around the bare wall.

He was looking for some non-existent switch. Something traditionally hidden to open secret doors. But the geth didn't use those. This was, in fact, just a wall. Their map was finally wrong in the biggest of ways. He let his head hang while he leaned all his weight to his hands on the wall. A feeling of dread came over him. He looked over to Arla to see if she had any ideas, but she looked defeated.

Why wouldn't she? They were trapped, and the only way out was though a massive collection of geth of multiple varieties, each one seeking to rid their vessel of the organic infestation. Kevin slowly turned around and leaned back against the wall.

"Okay. Okay, there's got to be a way to salvage this situation. We definitely used up all of our explosives, right?"

"Yes," Arla quietly replied.

"Can we cut through this wall here? It could be a retrofit. Maybe it was done poorly."

"Geth don't poorly retrofit their own ships, Kevin."

Just then, the bright spark of a cutter pierced the door. It started at the top center and started working its way around the outside. They were going to cut the entire door right off. Their progress was slow, however – the door was thick and they had a lot of door to cut.

"This sucks," Kevin stated while shaking his head.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to end," Arla whispered. She wasn't crying or whimpering, her voice told of extreme disappointment.

"I don't know about you, Arla, but I'm not done yet."

"What can you expect to accomplish? We're trapped here because of our own faulty intel, and a horde of geth is punching their way in just to slaughter us for invading their home." Kevin could swear he heard her voice falter.

Kevin went face to face with her. "Okay, so this is our end. This is where we die. Do you think I'm just going to put my hands up and be executed? Not by a bunch of machines, I'll tell you that much. I'm going to make sure they regret cutting that door open. You can either help me with my final stand, or you can give up, lay down and die."

Arla said nothing. She simply looked down at the floor.

"Argh!" Kevin grabbed the top of her hood and pulled it down over her visor as far as the fabric would let him pull. "I can't even look at you anymore. You're not the stubborn, prideful Arla that I'd been training in CQC. You're not the intelligent, witty Ms. Tavval that's been tirelessly teaching me tech. You're just a defeated wannabe. Sorry, but marines don't quit, no matter their race or situation. I'm done with the pep talk. I have a last stand to prep for."

Kevin quickly turned away and started trying to push some of the metal crates around. He found that even in this low gravity, they were _heavy_. They must have been loaded with collected minerals and metals. The geth were almost halfway through, and he wasn't sure if he could arrange a more suitable setup in time.

That was when Arla stepped up next to him and started pushing.

"You're not pushing hard enough," she grumbled.

"So, have you finally decided what you're going to do?"

"I don't want to die, but if I have to do it, I'd rather go down alongside a squadmate fighting with everything I have."

Kevin smiled. "Like a warrior. That's my Arla."

"Do you have a plan that hopefully doesn't involve straight up suicide, then?"

"Mostly. I'm thinking we can use these crates to funnel them in. We'll set up a couple of the smaller ones down at the end for us to use as cover, and we'll just keep firing down the line. Granted that means that all of their fire will be concentrated in this general direction, but that's going to happen anyways."

"It's much better than lying down and waiting to die, I'll give you that."

"That's all you can compare it to? You're making me feel special, Tavval."

They both set to work right away shoving the crates around the room to make a solid, coverless hallway from the door to about halfway into the room. At the far end. They tipped over two of the smaller crates for them to use as their cover. By the time they had finished, they had just enough time to exchange thermal clips and give each other a nod.

It felt strange to Kevin. Fighting side by side with someone, knowing neither were going to make it out alive. Such a thought process tended to open the minds of those about to meet their end, and he was no exception. He drew in one deep breath and let it go whilst looking straight at Arla. His counterpart. His partner in death. Her being willing to stand at his side and fight until her death caused Kevin to gain a whole different level of respect for her.

And then the door busted in.

Geth began to pour into the makeshift corridor that they had set up, firing the moment they could see into the room. Without hesitation or inhibition, Kevin and Arla started firing back. Kevin's rapid fire assault rifle combined with the high powered shots of Arla's mass accelerator made an absolute mess of the first sets of geth to step down the hallway of doom. When those fell, more stepped in to replace them without any inherent fear of death or pain. They just kept on pushing in. When Kevin's shields took extra hits, he sometimes let them recharge and sometimes supplemented with a biotic barrier. He held back as much as he could on the biotics, though. He was worried that they would exhaust him before he could fully unload his fighting capacity on the geth attackers.

The mountain of broken and dead geth in the hallway started making it difficult for the geth to simply shoot at Kevin and Arla, and likewise them at the geth. That was remedied in a matter of seconds when the powerful blast of a rocket from a geth rocket trooper hit the pile. The bodies and crates surrounding them scattered about the room and slowly bounced off of the walls and ceiling before coming down to rest haphazardly about the whole place. So much for the hallway of doom.

Now the geth were pouring into the room too fast for Kevin and Arla to control. The synthetics were now shooting from several angles instead of just one, and they had to separate their concentrated fire to keep the geth from filing up the sides of the room and flanking their only defensible position. If that wasn't bad enough, Kevin just remembered a fatal flaw in their plan that they didn't have time to account for – rockets.

He popped his head up to search for the rocket trooper that caused this whole mess, and he spotted the red colored geth just off to the left of the entrance to the room. He threw one of his EMP grenades into the fray, aimed in the direction of the rocket trooper. When it detonated, all of the geth in the room locked up and convulsed in place. Kevin took this opportunity to concentrate his fire on his red colored target long enough to take it down before it could do any more damage. The others were quick work as well since the EMP stripped them of their shields. The problem was, even as those affected by the EMP were being torn apart and destroyed, a new flood of fully functioning geth replaced them in a matter of seconds. Those certainly didn't waste any time in opening fire.

Kevin's shields took a lot of hits and they went down. He gathered some dark energy and released it in the form of a barrier focused on protecting him from the area between him and Arla and the entrance. Another geth tried to slip to his side, but he caught the not-so-sneaky synthetic in the open. A few rounds of burst fire took him out. Another thermal clip down. His shields were finally back up just as his barrier failed.

He peeked over the crate to prioritize his targets when he saw a massive geth stepping into the room. It was not a type he had ever seen before. It was in white armor, easily twice the size of normal geth troopers, had a huge pulse rifle in its hands and sported multiple antennae rising off of its back. It started to open fire at Arla, then at him without even letting off the trigger. It was no ordinary pulse rifle, either. It worked like a machine gun, coating their cover in powerful pulse blasts. Kevin could see both his and Arla's cover getting whittled down and chipped away under the unforgiving barrage. To top it all off, it launched a rocket dead center between the two of them. When it detonated, it shattered his shields and knocked him off his feet.

He was quick enough to get back behind his failing cover. His shields weren't going to recharge for a while now. That blast hit them hard. If they had been any weaker, he'd probably be dead right now. He looked over to Arla to see how she was faring. She looked unharmed, but she was sitting with her back against the crate, flinching at every shot that hit in her general vicinity.

"Arla! How are you holding up?" Kevin yelled above the deafening constant rain of fire.

"My shields are done, Kevin! If I even look out to take a shot, I'm. . . "

Kevin had to think. He still had breath in his lungs and a gun in his hands. He wasn't about to give up. The world around him started to slow and the smallest details of every surface, sound and thought began to clear up in his head. His heightened mental state was coming upon him once more.

"Ah!" Arla fearfully yelled as a pulse rifle shot ricocheted off of her right pauldron. In response, she hugged her rifle tight against her chest.

For some reason, that caused Kevin's mental state to come crashing back to reality. He barely peeked over the edge of his breaking cover to see the massive geth lining up another rocket blast. This time it was going for a killshot, not aimed between the two but rather aimed at the wall just behind Arla's cover.

Kevin didn't have any time to find solutions or alternatives. There was only one thing he could think to do. A last resort. He lunged at Arla from behind his battered cover and screamed her name at the top of his lungs as the rocket left the barrel of the geth's rifle. Arla shut her eyes tight, knowing that her end had finally come.

Arla slowly opened her eyes, wondering if she was dead. Around her was the chaos of the heavily one-sided battle. Blurred, but there. The deafening sounds were reduced to muffles and softened impacts. She looked down half-expecting to see her mutilated body, but she only saw the floor. Alright, so she wasn't dead. Good news. But why wasn't she dead? She heard the launch of the rocket that was surely to end her life. Her broken down metal crate she had been using for cover wasn't even there anymore.

That was when she looked to the side and saw Kevin. He was was on his knees and hunched over with his gun on the ground and his hands up in the air. They were shimmering, as if he was somehow radiating immense heat through his environmental suit. Strangest of all, when he looked up to her with obvious strain, she could see his eyes.

She could see his eyes _glowing_.

She had been in a stupefied mental state until this point. She shook her head to make sure she wasn't hallucinating from battle fatigue. She wasn't. Whatever was causing the room to appear blurry was stopping all of the pulse rifle shots and explosions that were tearing up the area of the room immediately surrounding them. Was. . . Was Kevin a biotic? Had he just saved both their lives with some kind of strong biotic barrier? It wasn't clear to her what he was doing, exactly, but she did know this. He was the reason she was still breathing right now.

"Guess we really. . . screwed this. . . one up," Kevin said. His voice was strained, as if he was bearing the weight of one of those crates on his back in normal gravity.

Arla managed a half-chuckle. "Yeah." She picked up her gun and sat it on its stock, pointing straight up.

She looked up to the tip of her gun and contemplated how many times she shot geth today. More than she had in the past, for certain. The only time that even remotely compared to this was when they crash landed. They survived that ordeal because of this human, too. Looks like she owed him one again. She looked back down to his face, still taken aback by those eyes. It was like she was actually looking at a quarian now. But that was wasn't what was hitting her the hardest. She could see the strain in his eyes as he poured every ounce of his remaining strength into protecting her with that shield. Why wasn't she doing anything to help? What _could_ she do? She'd never really seen much for biotics, much less experience any of it. She felt so helpless. But there was _something_ she could do.

"But I'm not done yet," she said softly, quoting his words. He simply knelt there, looking up at her. There wasn't much else he could do.

She turned around and got onto one knee. She poked the barrel of her mass accelerator through the barrier and started openly firing at the mass of geth. She started chewing through heatsinks like never before. One by one the geth started to fall, but still more came. At times the barrier started to ripple heavily with each shot it took, like if it was about to turn to water and fall apart. Each time that happened, however, she heard Kevin grunt and it solidified once again. So she just kept on firing.

Two thermal clips gone. Three. Four. She was starting to eat into her bandolier of thermal clips, something she had only done once before. After a while, she began to think she was hearing things. There was a second set of explosions and shots from guns that weren't geth pulse rifles. There were glowing orbs flying about the room, all harassing the geth and drawing their fire away from her and Kevin. She squinted as she tried to make out what was going on through the blurry barrier, and then it hit her. There was someone else here.

There was someone else here!

Arla was suddenly filled with renewed vigor and started making shots for the heads of the geth left in the room again. She almost didn't need to. They all filed out of the room and were quickly dispatched. Even the huge geth that ruined their day so abruptly. Moments later, the sounds of chaotic battle were gone.

Arla leaned over to Kevin and spoke softly. "It's alright. They're gone now."

"We. . . We won?" he said with strained hope.

"Yes. You can let the barrier down now."

"G-good. It's. . . Kind of heavy. . . "

The glow in Kevin's eyes faded and the barrier around them fell away like a bubble popping in slow motion. It was then that Arla got a look at what the walls and floor outside the barrier looked like. It was charred, torn into. Like a crater from a high velocity impact, but not uniform. It was jagged and rough from all the shots and explosions. Arla looked up to the door and she saw the captain, Tyr, Riik, Ralik and everyone else running into the room.

"Keelah! They're alive!" the captain shouted.

"Alive? How. . ." Tyr and Riik looked at the utter destruction torn into the walls and floor around their resting spot. They looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"Kevin! Arla! You're alive! Oh Keelah, I thought you were paste!" Bela ran in and knelt beside Arla.

"I don't know how you two survived all that," Siri said with a shake of her head. "But holy crap I would swear you had half the entire ship after you."

"Kids these days," Tyr stated. "Always trying to overachieve and make us older generations look like tools."

Kevin stood up. "I love you guys so much right now."

And then he passed out.

When Kevin awoke, it wasn't on a bed. It wasn't a slow, groggy come-to with hazy memories. He woke up on a jagged floor rather suddenly thanks to a shot of adrenaline and a kick to the side.

"Oh GOD the geth!" He sprung up to a sitting position to see all of his squadmates hovering over him. "Oh wait. We won. You guys have impeccable timing. Slow to arrive, but you certainly couldn't have arrived at a better time!"

"Sorry about the jolt back to life, Folner," Tosh said. "I know you're probably not in the best of conditions right now judging by your vitals here, but we still have a job to do and it's only a matter of minutes before the geth regroup."

"Right. The servers. Are we close?" Kevin asked. Ralik offered a hand and he helped the human to his feet.

"A few corridors down, actually," Ralik mentioned. "It looks like you stumbled upon a mineral repository of some sort. Don't rightly know what you were thinking heading in there."

"Our intel was off," Arla piped in. "A lot of it was. I don't know if the ship has been redesigned since the scan or if this is a different ship entirely."

"Yes, I certainly have noticed a few discrepancies," Siri said with a thoughtful chin-tap. "Regardless, we can get to the objective now. Let's hurry and get this over with."

"Yes ma'am!" everyone shouted before they filed out of the room.

As they walked, Siri came up close to Kevin. "Arla tells me you did something amazing back there and saved her life. I don't doubt that for a second, especially after seeing the state of that room."

"Ahh, it was just a spur of the moment kind of thing-"

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

"Heh. No problem."

"Okay, _that_ I have trouble believing."

The short trip to the server room at the heart of the ship was surprisingly devoid of geth. Alarms were still sounding, but the only geth they saw were scrapped bodies shoved to the sides of the halls. That was good enough for Kevin. If he didn't see another active geth for the rest of his life, it would be too soon.

They eventually got to a room that retained its serene, deep blue-white color scheme. Through a window, Kevin could see into an inner, isolated room with rows and rows of what must have been the servers. The ultimate objective. He was also surprised to find all the doors already unlocked and open. Had they just walked right in?

"Everything's already open?" he asked.

"We've been here at the servers long enough to crack all the doors and prep the server room for deployment," Riik stated.

"When you two didn't arrive as planned and we couldn't get a hold of you on the comms, we found the shortest way to your selected evasion route and started to backtrack," Ralik commented. "Fortunately, we didn't have far to go, since the sounds of the geth attacking you guys could almost be heard from here."

"See that, Arla? We were _so close_," Kevin said.

"Hey! Hey hey! The bomb pieces need to be in here to work!" Bela snapped impatiently from the inner room.

Those who were carrying the pieces stepped into the server room and handed Bela them one at a time. With relative ease, she snapped them all back together and pressed a button on top. The button caused a number of metallic leads to drop and dangle from the top of the sides of the irregularly cylindrical device. She grabbed each one and attached them or had them touch each server somewhere.

"Just have to arm it. Shouldn't take more than a minute," Bela confidently stated as everyone filed out of the inner room.

"I certainly hope not," Riik said. He had moved over to the door and was staring down the corridor they just came from. "They're on their way already."

Kevin stepped up next to Siri and hoisted up his assault rifle. "I take it this is where things get ugly." He checked his shield level. It looked like it had been enough time for the kinetic barrier system to reset and correct itself. He suspected Arla's was back up as well.

"I certainly expect as much," she replied. "We're about to fry everything that allows them to exist."

"Then let's do it and get off of this infernal ship," Arla said stepping up next to Kevin. "I think I can safely speak for both Kevin and I when I say that we're ready to be away from these geth."

"As am I," Siri said. She sighed and placed one hand on Kevin's shoulder and the other on Arla's. "No more scares, either. My heart stopped dead when we found your room inundated with geth. I thought I had lost two more precious crew members. Rest assured, I will not make the mistake of sending two off to counter odds like that ever again."

"Bomb's armed and powering up!" Bela shouted.

Siri stepped to the center of the outer server room. "Let's make this exfil quick and clean, marines! I will _not_ be losing any of you on the way out, understood?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"I want a tight push formation! Shotgunners up front! Tavval, your sniper rifle puts you dead center! Assault rifle specialists take up the flanks! Folner, you'll be bringing up the rear with me. Form up and wait for Bela's word on the device!"

Behind them in the inner server room, the cylindrical device began emitting a high-pitched and fairly loud whine. Bela looked at her omni-tool and raised her shotgun in preparation. "Device is powered! Fry, you bosh'tets!"

"Move, marines!" the captain yelled.

With an eerie level of synchronization, the team quickly moved out of the room in a tightly packed, but well maintained formation. The sound of thrashing electricity bolts came from behind them and the ship shook. The seemingly perpetual white-blue lights around them started flickering and pulsing. Behind them, just outside the server room, one of the capacitors jutting from the wall violently burst in a surge of electrical current well beyond its normal limits. Kevin seemed to be the only one who saw that, though. Everyone else was focused forward.

He decided that it _might _be a good idea to warn them. "Avoid the exposed capacitors if at all possible! They're exploding under the uncontrolled electrical load! Violently!"

Nobody responded vocally, but everyone nodded. The sounds of explosions and overloading electronics were overtaking most of the other sounds. In response to Kevin's warning, they started weaving back and forth between the left and right sides of the hall as they progressed to distance themselves from any capacitors they passed by.

It didn't take very long for the first signs of geth resistance to begin to show. They were popping out of any door the team passed with increasing number. However, as long as they kept their movement up and continued to shoot all that they could, they were leaving a vast majority of them behind. This was good, because they couldn't afford to slow down. The entire ship was quickly descending into utter chaos. The more they pushed forward, the worse it got. The worse it got, the more their formation started to fall apart due to everyone paying more attention to shooting and not falling over rather than to where they positioned themselves.

The geth behind them were struggling to keep up, but weren't simply falling out of sight. They shot wildly at the group, occasionally causing Siri and Kevin to backpedal while firing at them to at least give them cause to take cover. Usually they didn't and opted to take all the shots to the face while firing back. This became particularly troublesome when destroyers, juggernauts and rocket troopers got into the mix.

Kevin's shields were slowly being worked down by several grazes of lucky shots, as were Siri's. Kevin supplemented his shields again with a biotic barrier in case one of them hit too close to home. They came to a straight, long corridor that turned left at the distant end. Everyone broke into full sprint, knowing that staying in this hallway too long would allow the geth behind them to to take a lot of pot shots, all of which had some chance to hit them.

"Hustle, hustle, hustle! Don't stop for anything!" Siri shouted. She and Kevin had fallen some short ways behind the others by now thanks to their occasional shots at their pursuers, but they were starting to gain on the rest of the team.

But the two stragglers didn't even make it halfway down the length of the hall when a distortion rocket fired by a destroyer flew between them at knee height and detonated on the floor right in front of them.

Kevin's eyes shut by instinct and his ears rung from the shockwave of the blast. His gun was ripped from his hands, too. He could feel himself hurtling slowly through the extremely thin air until he smacked into a wall and bounced back where he landed. He was hurt, but it seemed his shields combined with his barrier took the nearly all of the blow. Nothing was breached and nothing was broken. If he was lucky, he could just pick up and continue running. He opened his eyes and found himself lying in the middle of the hallway amidst a cloud of smoke from the explosion. Refusing to let panic set in, he grasped the second of his three EMP grenades and tossed it so that it should have landed right in the middle of the geth crowd when it detonated.

It did, and Kevin quickly searched for his main gun. It was off to his side, almost behind a stack of crates on the side of the room where Siri had just finished crawling to. He rolled on the floor and grabbed his gun as he rolled over it. He got up and crouched behind the cover with Siri, gun at the ready. He looked down the hall where he and Siri were supposed to be heading and saw that his squadmates had intelligently continued on, or were unaware of their predicament and continued on anyways. He had to stop letting this happen any time he saw a geth squad.

"Alright, if we hurry, we can make it to the end of the corridor before the EMP stops affecting their systems," Kevin quickly said as he made ready to sprint. When Siri didn't say anything back, Kevin turned to look at her.

Siri was sitting slumped against the crates, holding her legs. Only now did he hear her extremely well reserved grunts of pain. Her right leg was bent in a way that suggested it had been broken in at least three different areas. Her left leg appeared fine, aside from several visible wounds leaking blood into the thin atmosphere. Her suit was a mess and her visor was cracked on the right side. It didn't seem to Kevin like the crack was deep enough to vent, though.

"Oh no."

"Blasted. . . synthetics. . ." Siri said between tightly clenched teeth. "Ruining my day. . ."

"Hang in there, captain. I'll- I'll get the others and bring them back. We'll get you aboard the Kellius for emergency treatment."

"Don't be. . . an idiot, Folner. There's not enough time to come back."

Kevin knew she wasn't even referring to the geth. The disablement device was still sowing destruction through the geth ship. "Then I'll carry you to the ship."

"Stop being. . . rash. I, a captain of the quarian people and of a Xelvas'taersh squad. . . will not permit you to carry me."

"This is hardly the time for pride, captain!"

"Kevin, if you try to carry me to the ship, neither of us will make it there. I'll not be losing any of you on the way out, understood?" She coughed, and it sounded as though something came up with it. Her voice was weary and very pained, but still held a distinct determination. "It doesn't matter anyways. We don't. . . Ah. . . We don't have any medics aboard."

"So you're just going to give up and die? I'm certainly not having any of _that_. I just had this friggin' talk with Arla."

"Who said anything about. . . Giving up?" Siri asked as she grabbed her assault rifle and held it against her chest. She even managed a chuckle. "I'm not dead yet. You all are going to have serious trouble getting everyone into that small hole we cut open if geth are shoving their rifle barrels up your backside while trying to get aboard."

"So a captain is just going stay behind and sacrifice herself for the good of her squad. That's. . . Captian, that's too cliché for your style." Kevin knelt at his captain's side. He knew he wasn't going to talk her out of it, because she was right. If tried to save her in any way, he'd end up getting himself _and_ her killed, and who knew what might happen to the rest of the crew.

"Now's a good time to learn something about clichés, Folner. Some acts are considered cliché because they are done often. Those acts are done often because a group of like-minded people like the idea, or because it simply works. Perhaps because it provides the most efficient or sufficient outcome. Like right now, there's more to this than me simply wanting to go out in style. You need, need, _need_ to reach the others and tell them to go on with the mission. If you don't, they will wait for me – even as the Kellius gets overwhelmed by geth or fried by the powerful surge heading in its direction. I. Am. Not. Losing. Any. More. Marines." Kevin could clearly hear her voice getting choked up as she explained.

"Yes. . . Yes ma'am," Kevin solemnly replied.

"Help me up. My left leg is still good enough to stand on."

Kevin did so, and he could hear the sound of the geth resetting themselves. They only had a few more seconds before they'd be bearing down on them again.

"Now go tell the others that the mission is in all of your hands now." Siri ripped off her Xelvas'taersh icon and handed it to Kevin. "You've quickly become one of my favorite marines, Kevin. Try not to miss me too much, understood?" When Kevin looked into her eyes, he could barely make out the reflections of small pools of liquid reflecting the faint glow. They were starting to lose integrity and overspill down her face.

"I- No guarantees. One more thing before I go, captain." Kevin pulled out his last EMP grenade and he put it in her open hand. "Not until the fat lady sings."

"What does that mean?" She forced a chuckle.

"You'll know when the time comes. I trust you can figure it out."

"I see." The sounds of the geth down the hall indicated that they were operational again. She wasn't going to waste any more time. "Kevin."

Kevin, who was busy gathering dark energy to himself turned to hear her last words. "Yeah?"

"Take care of Arla."

Kevin had to pause at that final request. In all reality, he didn't know what to say to that except the obvious. "I will. Goodbye, captain."

Kevin stepped forward and erected a powerful barrier behind him. The geth weren't packed tightly enough for several of his biotic moves to be effective, so this at least allowed him to run down the hallway without taking any hits. He knew that there would continue to be geth ahead of him, so he braced himself and readied for more fighting. He stopped at the corner of the corridor and looked back to the lone quarian, broken and ready to fight. She rested her head back against the crate and pulled her assault rifle up. It was his orders as well as the most logical thing to do, but he still couldn't shake the depressing feeling that he was abandoning her to let her die alone. The very fact that this was true just made it more difficult for him. He grit his teeth, clenched his fists and pressed on.

This was not going to go over well with the others.


	27. Chapter 26

_**Chapter 26**_

"Goodbye, captain," Kevin said to Siri before he hesitantly rushed off after his comrades.

Those words cut into her heart in more ways than one.

She wasn't one to get teary-eyed in the face of defeat or death, especially the latter. She lived her life fighting for her people and had no regrets, save for wishing she had kept more from an untimely demise. Yet now she was faced with an unfamiliar personal battle, manifesting itself in the form of unwilling tears. _Tears._ Perhaps part of it was due to how attached she had gotten to the team she was laying her life down for. Further than that, perhaps it was the fact that she knew that Kevin was the very last she'd see of any of them. She wouldn't get to say goodbye to Bela, get a final salute from Riik or Tyr, or get to deal with Arla's standoff from trying to cope with the truth of the matter. More selfishly, perhaps it was because she had just gotten this mission under way and she was already at her end.

Siri hoisted up her assault rifle and let it rest against her chest. She let out a slow, shaky breath and rested her head against the metal crate she leaned on. She focused all of her weight on her left leg and bit back any pain from her right leg that dared confront her conscious mind. As much as she wanted to, there was no time to grieve. Emotional distress never won any battles, and it certainly wasn't going to help her win this one.

Much the same as her entire career as a captain, she never got time to grieve, to feel emotional pain, to get a 'weekend off'. It just another day at the helm. It wasn't just about being tough or hardy. She had a fondness for getting the job done, and that usually didn't give a lot of way for moments of self-pity.

"So come on, Kortel, get your head together," she said to herself in a pained variation of her trademark captain's tone. "There's a lot of geth right here trying to kill your team. Best be rid of those watery eyes or you won't be able to plant your shots in each of those blasted synthetic's heads!"

Siri growled in response to the pain as she hobbled to her left and repositioned just enough so she would be able peek around the corner of the crate to fire at the geth. Without even seeing just how many geth she was up against, her fight or flight responses were kicking in. It didn't dull the pain much at all, but she found herself able to focus again despite the unimaginably intense agony coursing from her right leg. She leaned over to get a look at the oncoming forces and her brow furrowed with prejudice-born fury. Nine geth. More appearing around the corner in the distance.

"I am _not_ losing any more marines!" she screamed as she took as steady an aim as her trembling body would allow.

She opened up with several rounds of burst fire, most of which hit their mark fairly well. The recoil of her rifle, which under normal circumstances was effortlessly kept under control, jolted her body and further intensified the torture of trying to stand with a broken leg. It felt as though it was reaching beyond her head and stabbing into the back of her eyes. Three geth fell before she had to change a clip out, though, so she must have held it still enough.

As she ducked in and out of cover and fired volleys at her one an only enemy, she realized something: the geth were becoming increasingly disorganized. Their reaction time was significantly slower and their accuracy was horrible compared to when they crossed paths on the way in. She had almost forgotten that the entire ship was rocking, frying and exploding around her. The attack on the servers and databases must have been crippling the geth's internetwork and as a result, causing them to rely simply on the units around them for data sharing. They were becoming less and less effective at being footsoldiers. The lenses on their heads were still red with hostility, but their aggressive approach, press, flank and root out tactics had all but fallen apart. She was beginning to think she might be able to successfully stonewall the geth's main approach to the Kellius.

Geth were falling, but the remaining numbers converging on this hallway were steadily increasing well beyond her ability to nullify. The array of units she was trying to stave off had gotten diverse, as well. Every known bipedal geth class she knew of except the towering Geth Prime class was present and working to remove her so that they might have their shot at eliminating the invaders. The thin line of geth she was originally able to push back had since been replaced by a thick wall of synthetics whose collective intelligence was reduced to using a tactical swarm approach to overwhelm her. She couldn't stop them any more. This was the end of the line.

Or was it?

_"Not until the fat lady sings,"_ Siri remembered him saying. She figured it was some human expression, but she had no idea what it was supposed to mean. Only now did she understand what that cryptic statement was referring to, with the help of a little situational context. Whoever the fat lady was, she must have been the end of whatever she was a part of. After ducking behind the cover one last time, she replaced the heatsink in her rifle and grabbed the EMP grenade the human had provided. She held in a breath as she armed the grenade and forced herself against all pain to lean out and throw it at her foes.

The moment seemed to move in slow motion. She felt the grenade leave her hand to travel towards the bulk of the overwhelming synthetic mass. The problem was, she would have absolutely no time whatsoever to take advantage of their spasming state. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught view of a very accurate – or very inaccurate – distortion rocket, heading for the floor no more than a third of a meter away. Blasted distortion rockets. They've done nothing but ruin her whole day.

She closed her eyes as she expected the concussive blast to end her on the spot.

At the moment of detonation, she felt herself get violently lifted from the ground and mercilessly smashed into the ceiling. She hit the floor face down with a sickening mix of a thud, a series of cracks and a splattery mess. She promptly blacked out for a few seconds strictly from the unrelenting agony of her already broken body being torn asunder.

How did she bring her mind back from the abyss? Maybe it was the sense that there was still more to be done. When the captain came to, everything was blurry. There were so many suit-error alarms going off that she could barely hear the sound of the geth homeship suffering a similar, but internal fate. There was so much brutal pain that she couldn't even bear to move enough to shut them off. Her mind was starting to spiral into a madness of agony, failure and the imminent final shot to end her life.

Yet something sparked in her head. Images of her Xelvas'taersh squad flashed in her mind, almost reminding her of why she stayed behind. She never could explain it, but she had grown so much more attached to these eight individuals than she had most quarians serving under her. It ran deeper than that, even. She could only think of it as love, but not a romantic love. A level of camaraderie she hadn't really experienced before. How it happened didn't matter to her right now. She was still alive, and she still had a duty– No. A _final desire_ to protect them to the very end of her last breath.

She coughed and blood spattered the inside of her increasingly cracked visor. She felt through the pain that she could still move her arms. Thank Keelah they were not broken! Her vision cleared just enough for her to see that the geth in front of her were still under the influence of the EMP grenade. Something inside was filling her with an inexplicable vigor, pushing her to search for her rifle. Fighting double vision, she could make it out not more than a meter in front of her, just out of arm's length.

Siri knew her body was done for. She didn't even bother trying to see if she even still had any legs left. But she _had_ to get to that rifle. With pained cries and growls so fierce that she nearly bit off her own tongue, the captain pulled herself forward centimeter by centimeter until she reached her weapon. She lifted it up and coughed again, turning most of her view red. Without hesitation, she let loose a barrage of fully automatic fire at the wall of epileptic geth.

"I'm down here, you tepka bosh'tets! Come get your last taste of Siri'Kortel vas Kellius!" she managed to gurgle out with a volume that even she didn't think she was capable of.

Each shred that left the barrel jarred her body, but she no longer cared. Her body was going into shock and her mind had gone numb to everything except killing as many geth as she could. The unshielded wall fell before her like a grove of trees hit by a pyroclastic flow. The geth coming up the corridor behind them were the next to meet her last stand onslaught. Heat sink after heat sink was ejected until the thermal clip ran empty. She instinctively reached for her pistol, and to her surprise it was still in one piece. She didn't even give it a second thought before she hauled it around and, with the last of her waning strength, fired until the first heatsink needed to be ejected.

Her vision was already tunneling hopelessly by the time she took a shot clean through her pistol and right shoulder. Her body, shoved by the impact, skidded backwards a bit. She no longer had the strength to move her fingers and her grip on the broken pistol failed her. Her head was so heavy that she could no longer hold it in position to look at the geth coming near. With a gurgling sigh, Siri'Kortel let go of her last breath and gave in to the death that was so fervently grasping for her.

Kevin was running full tilt down the corridor, following in his squadmates' equally as hasty footsteps. The vitals data from his captain had long since faded due to the remnants of jamming coming from the ship. He was still coming to grips with leaving his captain to die, but he forced himself to focus more on keeping his footing and taking out any geth that popped out of a door. It wasn't easy at times, either. The ship was reeling under what Kevin perceived as the final stages of Bela's disablement attack. Electronic components everywhere were bursting under the excess electrical load, and if two exposed pieced of ruined equipment were close enough, they had the potential to send off deadly arcs of electricity.

He had a feeling that there was a little more punch to this than Bela had designed. He wondered if the power generating services, having been electrically removed of any form of control, were adding to the chaos. If anything, that only made him run faster.

Finally the chamber that they had arrived in came into view. On the far side, he saw the team huddled together below the cut hole in the wall, doing their best to keep the small pockets of geth at bay. The jamming started to fade and Kevin caught some of the team's chatter as he ran the final stretch of hallway to the room.

_"Juggernaut right. Focus fire,"_ Tyr instructed. At once, the entire team shot a volley towards a part of the room out of Kevin's line of sight.

_"Here comes Kevin. Exfil, exfil!"_ Tyr shouted.

_"I don't see the captain,"_ Riik responded.

Tyr wasn't in the mood for backtalk. _"We can cover her approach from the hole. Move it!"_

As ordered, the team packed up and started their cumbersome retreat into the square cut-out on the wall. One by one they hopped up, gripped the ledge, and pulled themselves into the airlock. Tyr was the last one in, giving Kevin just enough time to lunge at the hole from half the room away. The angle and speed Kevin was approaching the entrance from was going to make it difficult for him to simply catch on and climb in. Thankfully, Tyr reached out and grasped Kevin's outstretched right hand and hauled him through. As soon as he was in, Tyr and Arla took position in the gap to fire at any geth that stepped into the room.

Kevin had no time to waste, yet he hesitated. The news he was about to bring was tragic. Demoralizing, even. How was he supposed to inform the others? Kevin, emotionally conflicted, clenched his fist around the late captain's Xelvas'taersh symbol. One thing was true, though. If he didn't get the Kellius to separate from the geth homeship now, they were going to fry too and everything she died for would be wasted.

"We need to get the Kellius off the geth ship, now!" Kevin demanded.

"A few minutes. We need to wait for the captain," Riik calmly stated.

"We'll fry if we stay here any longer."

"The captain will fry if we don't," Riik countered. "Do you want her blood on your hands?"

Kevin swallowed hard. "I never did."

"Then we will wait," Riik said with a nod.

"No. No we won't." Kevin lowered his head and raised his clenched fist out in front of him. He opened it, palm up so that all could see what he took away from the mission – a scorched and scarred Xelvas'taersh symbol. Since everyone on the airlock was wearing theirs, it was quickly obvious who it belonged to.

There was a collective gasp and sudden stillness. Arla and Tyr turned around to see what caused the sudden, almost tangible change in emotion in the airlock and they, too, froze. Several of them started to shake their heads in disbelief.

Kevin wasn't about to let them wonder what happened. Not when time was this short. "We were hit by a distortion rocket, but Siri took the worst of the hit. She stayed behind to stonewall the pursuing geth so that they wouldn't wreck us while we tried to get back into the Kellius."

"Captain. . ." Bela whispered, still shaking her head.

"Liar!" Riik yelled as he stepped over to Kevin and got in his face. "Awfully convenient story, Folner!"

"Call it what you want, but that's what happened! Why would I lie to you guys about this?" Kevin closed a fist around the icon once more.

"Conveniently leaving the captain behind to die so that you could take authority of the mission, maybe? I find it hard to believe that both of you went down because of a distortion rocket and only the captain took the damage." Riik seethed.

Kevin couldn't make a direct counter to that. His reason for making it through that blast relatively unharmed was because of his personal biotic barrier, but none of them – other than Arla – even knew he was a biotic. Such a time was not the best to reveal information like this, not to mention that it would seem like just another convenient dodge.

Arla placed a hand on her visor. "I'm sorry, Kevin, but there's just. . . It's just too. . . I can't believe the captain would. . ." Kevin could at least understand her disbelief. She had just been saved from the worst possible situation by his biotics. Why didn't he save the captain, too?

"Everybody settle down," Tyr rather calmly, if shakily, suggested. "I have a feeling there's a bit more to this."

Riik took a firm hold of Kevin's suit. "Exactly! There are a lot of gaps in your story you failed to explain, Folner. The mark of a _lie_."

Kevin grit his teeth. Frustration was welling up pretty quick. "I shouldn't have to, we're squadmates. Or have you already forgot? Siri'Kortel was_ my _captain too!" Kevin swiped Riik's hand away and the angry quarian backed off. It seemed the last statement hit everyone a little close to home, but at least for the moment the accusations stopped. Like clockwork, however, shots from an increasing number of geth were beginning to pour in and hit the ceiling.

"I can give you all details later, but right now we _need_ to get away from that ship before it destroys everything Siri believed in!"

"Us. . ." Bela quietly affirmed to herself.

After brief moment of silence, Tyr took charge. "Folner's right. Kar'Welkas, shut this airlock and us the heck away from this blasted place."

_"U-Understood. Initiating escape plan. Hold on everyone, this is going to be close."_

The sound of arching electricity and small explosions could be heard coming from the geth homeship even though the airlock door had since sealed tight. Kevin, Tyr and Ralik exited the airlock and headed into the bridge, leaving several stunned quarians behind. They knew that there current situation did not allow for a moment of hindsight or grief. Not if they wanted to make it to the relay alive. Behind them, a disabled geth Valesh'saat drifted in space like a derelict merchant vessel. There was no grand explosion or ship-rattling concussive shockwave, as expected. Kevin, Tyr and Ralik made it into the bridge just in time to see Kar piloting the Kellius through a swirling mass of angry and confused geth ships.

"Good Lord, we stirred up the bee's nest," Kevin said. "How much time do we have left on the stealth?"

"About two minutes if we keep up this much thrust," Kar replied. "We won't be able to clear the entire fleet before we have to vent."

"Vent now," Tyr said.

"What? Why?" Kar asked.

"We won't have to worry about the geth we're passing, since they won't have enough time to line up shots. I need to make sure the IES3 is ready the moment we jump. I have a plan."

"Do what he says, Kar," Kevin said. Tyr's plans have so far been pretty good. He didn't have any reason to suspect he would falter now.

Kar hit on the venting procedure and returned his attention to his flight course. Kevin was keeping a steady eye on the LADAR scans on the terminal to Kar's left, watching for changes in geth direction. There was. Every geth they flew by seemed to be trying to take shots at them, but they usually didn't. There were too many of their own and the Kellius' path was too unpredictable to get a good shot in.

Finally they pushed through most of the geth fleet. The relay came into view in the distance, as active as it had been since the probes passed by. It's blue-white glow illuminated the fleet of geth ships surrounding it at a safe distance in a giant ring. It was awe inspiring, but at the same time deeply ominous.

"Keelah, look at them all," Kar said as he continued to make their ship a difficult target.

Kevin looked up. "What do you think they're all doing here? Protecting the relay? Waiting for someone? Both? Neither?"

"Can't be protection," Tyr pointed out. "In order to do that, they'd have to form a barrier around the relay, not just a ring."

"Doesn't matter anyway," Kar said. "We're about to link up to the relay. Standby!"

"Three ships broke off from the fleet and are pursuing," Kevin announced.

"All that fleet and only three?" Tyr wondered aloud. "Either they're being nice, or there's something we don't know."

Kevin spotted Arla joining them in the bridge as they drew very close to the relay. The mechanical hum of the ship tucking itself closer together in preparation for the jump signaled that they were just about to hit the relay. In a flash, it happened. The viewports were coated with a solid cyan for a mere few seconds until it fell away as they reached the end of the jump.

They were greeted by the unfamiliar sight of the deepest blackness they had ever seen. There were no stars – just the occasional distant and extremely faint dot of light from some other distant galaxy. It sent a strange shiver down the spines of each individual that stared off into the abyss. Even more strange, there was not a single geth to be found. This was probably the most confusing contrast to that of where they came from. Kevin expected the geth to fully control both sides of the jump, and judging by Tyr's need for the stealth system to be fully ready by the time they jumped, he did too.

"Bring the ship around and engage the IES3," Tyr said, reminding everyone that they still had one last thing to take care of before they could relax.

"Repositioning," Kar informed. "IES3 active."

Silence. All of the onlookers were waiting for something to happen. After a lengthy few minutes, Kevin noticed something odd, yet unrelated to the geth.

"Wait. Where's the-" Kevin was cut off by the brilliant blue entrance of the three pursuing geth ships who had just jumped in via relay.

"Again, just three," Tyr said aloud, confused. "Shouldn't they be sending enough to make sure? Welkas, can we take them on?"

"Those are freighter class geth ships," Kar said. "Three might be tough, but we do tactically outmatch them in almost every field. Especially with the new guns. I'm pretty sure I can handle this."

"Welkas, that was a yes or no question."

"I can do it, Chief," Kar said, emphasizing the entire statement out of reassurance to both Tyr as well as himself.

"Then get it done, marine. Quick and easy. Let's hope Merni finished those tune-ups on the main gun."

The three geth ships flew a ways from their entry point and then stalled. Perhaps they were scanning the area for hiding places that the Kellius might have been using, since they couldn't see it directly anywhere. Kar took the Kellius directly underneath them with the nose of the ship pointed directly at the underbelly of the leading ship. Thrusters were opened and the Kellius increased speed, heading straight for the trio. In the same second, Kar deactivated the stealth systems and fired the main mass accelerator cannon. The center ship took a direct hit – its shields might have held better if Bela had not used her clan's cannon optimizing expertise to give it a little extra punch. It suffered catastrophic damage and the remaining two scattered to counter.

Kar'Welkas flew the much nimbler Kellius in literal circles around the geth freighters, keeping up a constant barrage of GARDIAN laser fire. Though the damage was more than superficial, it wasn't quite enough to outright destroy a geth ship. Kar was having the targeting system search for weak points on the freighters, and after a few passes, one was found. The easiest way to take down these ships seemed to be to critically damage their subtle thrusters. Kar devoted extra concentration on positioning the Kellius behind and below either of the ships to give the GARDIAN towers the best shot. The problem was that it seemed that they figured out what he was aiming for, and were making it difficult. They were slower, but they weren't immobile. Yet. They were firing back, but the freighters lacked mass accelerator cannons and their weapons were much slower than most ships as their damage was explosive derived rather than impact.

Kar was beginning to worry that he'd have to stop using the lasers in order to let them cool down. Fortunately, the Kellius' superior speed and maneuverability proved itself yet again and Kar was able to take the ship right where he needed. One of the geth ships' thrusters were hit and ultimately left beyond repair. This made the drifting ship easy prey for the Kellius' main cannon. The third and only remaining ship broke off in what seemed like an attempt to flee. Kevin was fairly certain that the synthetics didn't experience fear, so it was more a tactical retreat. In the short time the geth ship made ready to go to FTL speeds, Kar landed more GARDIAN laser hits on their thrusters and it was finished off in the same way as the second one.

"Why did you shut off the stealth systems at the beginning of the battle?" Kevin asked the helmsman curiously, smiling at the victory.

Kar chuckled. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not test how well our limited sinks handle combat emissions. Not with us still inside the ship, anyways."

Kevin tilted his head. "Good point. Now back to my previous question. Where's the return relay?"

Tyr and Kar looked at each other as if they had completely forgotten about that. It was true, though, that there was no return relay in the immediately visible area.

Kar began tapping on his terminals. "I'll. . . Start some long range scanning. Maybe we had unexpectedly high drift?"

"If drift was the cause, then how did three geth freighters end up at the exact same location?" Kevin asked.

"I don't like this," Tyr commented to himself. "Maybe _that's_ why they sent so few of the most expendable ships in their current fleet."

"Are you telling me that the geth knew that anyone that used that relay wouldn't be coming back any time soon?" Kevin asked, his volume increasing. "Just friggin' great."

Nobody even knew Tosh was there until he spoke. "It would be a safe conjecture, then, that the geth were hanging around the relay to wait for word back from a possible exploration team. Maybe several."

"That's going to be a really crappy 'welcome home' party," Arla mused.

"Do what you can to find _something_, Welkas," Tyr ordered. "If anything changes, let us know."

"Yes sir," the helmsman replied. Meanwhile, everyone else trudged back to the briefing room.

"So whether the captain was alive or dead doesn't matter anyways. We can't go back to get her now," Tyr said, trying to get the rest of the crew to move on. Instead, it left a horribly depressing and socially cold awkwardness hanging in the air.

Kevin had quickly noticed that all but Kar and Tyr were staring at him. Uncomfortable with this silent accusation, Kevin shifted on his feet and looked at the emblem still grasped in his hand.

"I'll. . . I'll be in my quarters," he finally grumbled out. He immediately left the briefing room. His destination, however, wasn't his quarters.

Kevin quickly sat down on the plush couch facing the large square viewport in the port observation lounge. The view through the window was a peculiar scene. One half of the viewport was filled with the sight of the galaxy, seen horizontally from the outside. The other half was pitch black as the edge of the galaxy eventually ceased. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Slowly, he opened his hand and let the charred Xelvas'taersh icon succumb to gravity. He caught it by the end of the strap and let it dangle there and watched as it swung side to side. He began contemplating everything that had happened on the mission, replaying battles and moments back in his mind while they were still fresh.

He found it uncomfortably hard to concentrate on much of anything. He was physically exhausted from the whole ordeal, especially due to the final stand. There was an animal-like groan that reverberated off of the flat walls of the room. He was tired, but he was also famished. He slung a lot of biotics during that mission, and it wouldn't have taken as much of a toll as it did if it wasn't for his last ditch attempt to save Arla and himself with the spherical biotic barrier.

His thoughts and minutes of silence were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Kevin didn't have to turn and look. He knew it was Arla.

"Curse you, Terra. I'm shutting my locater function in your VI off the first chance I get."

"I didn't ask Terra," Arla somberly replied. "You've been coming here to think a lot recently."

Had he really gotten that predictable? Kevin ceased swinging the emblem and closed his hand around it again. It was almost as if he was shielding it from something. "Why are you here, Arla? You know I came here to be by myself." He stood from the couch and took a few steps towards the viewport.

Kevin heard the faint inhale of breath before words were spoken, but there was no reply.

"Did you come here to ask for those details I mentioned? Or are you here to accuse me of intentionally getting your- _Our_ captain killed without justification?" His fist clenched so tightly around the emblem that he thought the edges of it were going to tear into his suit.

Again, no reply. Kevin suspected that she had left the room, but he didn't hear the door open again. When he turned to look to know for sure, he was nearly startled by the fact that she was standing right behind him with her head down. Kevin stared for a moment, completely unsure of what was going on. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He was too frazzled, tired and hungry to bother. He was on the verge of simply walking out of the room when she looked up at him.

Without warning, Arla reached out and pulled Kevin into a emotionally distraught embrace. Kevin's hands went up in a reflexive stance. This was so unexpected to him that he thought she was using this as a distraction while she worked to kill him somehow for the loss of her captain. His eyes darted about, searching for a potential threat, some form of an approach for a killing blow. But there was none to be found. It seemed that Arla just genuinely wanted a hug.

Kevin relaxed and wrapped his arms around her waist. This was not like the hugs he remembered from his past. There was no warmth. He couldn't feel the goosebumps on Arla's skin, nor feel her breath against his shoulder as she rested her head there. Yet there was still something there. An intangible connection just from her stepping beyond certain personal bounds to initiate such an action. He dared to let his head rest against hers for a moment, and he felt her tighten her wide-armed grip on him.

"I'm sorry," Kevin finally said to break the silence.

"It wasn't your fault," Arla said without lifting her head. She sounded regretful, sorrowful, but there were no sobs and Kevin was fine with that. Sobbing didn't suit her.

"How is it not my fault?" he asked.

"I knew the captain. If what you said was true, then it makes sense that she did what she did. Even if it were me in your place, the outcome would have been the same."

Kevin didn't know how to respond to that, so he stayed silent. About a minute passed before Arla finally brought an end to their embrace.

"I saw with my own eyes what you did to save us in that dead end. At first, I questioned why you did not do the same for her, but I realized something. Battles don't always work out as planned. In fact, they rarely do. I trust that if there was something you could have done, you'd have tried."

_Trust._

Again, Kevin left Arla to reason with herself. It didn't seem like there was anything he could say without destroying the fragile moment.

Arla turned away and headed towards the door. "We. . . We should get some rest. We've had an unusually trying day, you and I. I think we'll be able to focus on the mission better then, and discuss those details over a meal or something."

"Agreed."

Arla stopped just as she opened the door and turned her head to look at Kevin with her peripheral vision. "Now I understand, all too late, why you were so reluctant to let that mission happen. I'm glad that you came with me, though. F-For obvious reasons."

_And less obvious ones_, Kevin wanted to add, but he resisted the urge. "Sleep well, Arla."

"You too," she replied as she crossed the threshold and disappeared behind the closing door.

Kevin caught himself white-knuckling his hold on the emblem, but not because of the frustration he felt earlier. This time it was an unconscious quirk he hadn't ever found himself doing before. Puzzled, he released his grip on the emblem to let it dangle by its strap again and held it just in front of his face so that he could just barely make out the reflection of the shrouded silhouette of his face within the helmet.

"What's happening to you, Folner? Has this day worn you so bad that you're finally beginning to lose it?" The exasperated human lowered the emblem and placed his empty hand over his visor. He wanted to massage his temples, rub his face, _anything_. This lack of personal physical interaction was starting to feed into his exasperation. Either way, he didn't have the ambition to look up how to take off the front of the helmet right now. Perhaps sleep _was_ the best idea.

He made his decision and headed out of the lounge and into his quarters. He placed the emblem down on the night stand next to the bed with his pistol and sheathed knife. He laid down in the bed, unconsciously throwing blankets over him for comfort through familiarity and closed his eyes. After fifteen straight minutes of random fits of tossing and turning that seemed to go on for hours, he found that sleep would not come easily today.

Was he overtired? Surely a single tense mission wasn't enough to strain him to his limits. He could instantly recall a couple near week-long missions that left him far more conflicted or emotionally taut than this. The major difference was that he hadn't lost someone closer than mere acquaintance since Nor until today. There were, however, two notions that made Siri's death far easier to cope with: One, she was not someone Kevin was interested in quite as romantically as Nor, and two, she died a death of honor and duty to her people and her cause. The latter having been the more accepted of the two.

Kevin shook his head and stood up off the bed, frustrated at not being able to sleep in his weariness. It was timely, then, for Tyr to apologetically call Kevin into the briefing room. Not having anything better to do, Kevin told him that he'd be there in a minute. He wasn't sure why Tyr wanted to see him, but it had to be somewhat important.

When Kevin arrived, he was expecting to see the whole crew minus Arla. Instead, he only found Kar at the controls of the bridge and Tyr staring and a blank holographic sphere projected over the briefing table.

Tyr looked over to Kevin and nodded anxiously. "Good. Arla had informed me that you both were on the verge of passing out and had retreated to your respective sleeping quarters. I was hoping to catch you before you slept."

"You guys _love_ keeping me up, don't you?"

"That was not my intention-"

"I'm messing with you, Tyr. I couldn't fall asleep anyways."

Tyr paused. "Anyway, the reason I called you here was twofold. Firstly, I'd like to express my apologies on behalf of Riik, since he obviously won't. You know him well enough to know that he was just reacting to his gut."

"As usual. No harm done, chief." He was partially lying, of course. Riik's words were reactive to the heat of the moment, but it was all reactive to what Kevin kicked _himself_ for.

"Thank you for being as understanding as you have been. The second reason is so that I can voice a bit of concern, and with captain Kortel gone and Lieutenant Tavval having yet to rise to the shift in rank, that leaves you as the person with the highest authority on the ship."

"What's wrong?" Kevin crossed his arms, trying hard not to feel that Tyr was implying that he had planned the result of his position.

"Take a look at this long range scan in the holograph."

Kevin took a closer look at the sphere of light hovering perfectly above the table. He looked all over it and even squinted to try an make something out of it. In the end, he gave up trying to make any sense of the seemingly featureless globe.

"I'm not quite sure I know what I'm looking for. It looks blank to my eyes," Kevin admitted.

"That's because it is, Kevin, and therein lies the problem." Tyr leaned forward and placed all his weight on his hands as they met the table.

"So what you're telling me is that there's _nothing_ out here? No relay, no planets, no stars or asteroids? I knew we were heading for dark space, but how freakin' far out into dark space _are_ we?"

"Welkas is still looking into the ship's estimations for a more solid number, but he says we're pretty much sitting on the very edge of the galactic disc. I'm just as puzzled by the lack of a return relay as you are, since trying to get to the nearest mapped civilization from here would take decades without one."

Kevin suddenly just got the sinking feeling that he'd never see anything he had ever come to know in the galaxy again. He and Tyr both knew that they'd run out of fuel and supplies long, long before they made it back into the galaxy as they knew it. He could feel the human tendencies of panic and stark depression worming their way into his mind, but he was not about to succumb to that defeat. Not yet. Not after he'd finally made it out here.

"Does the rest of the crew know?" Kevin asked, his tone falling to that of dire seriousness.

"Other than Welkas, you and I, no. There's the basic premise of no immediate return relay, but I've been dodging the issue."

"That's probably for the best. That news can be a real. . . morale crusher."

"Don't I know it. Morale took enough of a hit as it is with the loss of captain Kortel, and we still have a lot of work to do."

"Chief Garloh!" Welkas called from the bridge.

"What is it, private?" Tyr said as he turned to look down the narrow corridor to the bridge.

"Some new frequency results are coming in. I might have at least something for us to scope out."

Tyr looked back to Kevin and they simultaneously started for the bridge. The chief sat in the chair to Kar's left and Kevin leaned over between the two quarians to get a look.

"There," Kar said as he pointed out coordinates on Tyr's terminal. "Take a look. What do you think?"

Tyr zoomed in on that area that Kar highlighted. It showed a large area of what appeared to be static in the middle of blank space.

"What the heck does static mean?" Kevin asked.

"If I had to guess," Tyr hypothesized, "I would have to say that it means the scanners are picking up something the computer doesn't know how to display. Could be something deliberately trying to avoid being seen with odd, but obviously lackluster, results."

"It's better than a huge, blank map," Kevin laughed.

"Indeed. Private, see if you can get us in for a closer look. No FTL. We need to make sure we're not flying into some exotic trap for confused and lost travelers."

"Understood. ETA is about seven hours."

"Seven hours?" Kevin asked, straightening up. "Bah. I guess I'll go try to sleep, then."

"Of course," Tyr nodded. "By all means. I know you and Arla had a rough time back there, even before the incident with the captain."

"Do you _have_ to keep bringing her up?" Kevin asked as he exited the bridge.

Tyr didn't bother to reply, letting Kevin go about his business. Kevin felt the stinging pangs of hunger again and decided to have a big meal first. Already worn down by the day's events, Kevin's full stomach conjoined with his overall tiredness and sleep found its way to him much easier this time.


	28. Chapter 27

_**Chapter 27**_

Kevin woke up slowly with sleep still hanging heavy in his eyes. Sluggishly, he sat up and let his legs dangle over the side of the bed and let his head fall into his hands as he struggled to bring his alertness into check. His eyes lifted up enough to get a glimpse at the clock to see how long he'd been out. Nine and a half hours. He groaned at himself and let his hands fall down to his lap. A second gaze towards his desk caused something else to catch his eye – an all too familiar scorched emblem. He stared at it for a while, bringing his groggy mind out of the depths. When he finally considered himself awake and alert, he got up, equipped his usual effects and left the room. As he strode his way towards the bridge, he shook the lingering remnants of sleep from his mind. By the time he had reached his destination, he was ready to work.

He found that just about everyone had already found their way there, but Kevin didn't remember any sort of call or announcement. The only one missing was Riik. He pondered the possible reasons, but not for long. He could hear that everyone was quietly conversing whilst staring out the viewports. Almost like a briefing, but with the viewports as the visual focus instead of a presentation or holographic image. When he walked into the bridge, several heads turned to observe and acknowledge his presence, but the conversations did not pause.

"- we could, but since we don't know the makeup, that's a risky move," Tosh finished.

"Morning, everyone," Kevin greeted just after entry. "I didn't hear any calls. I feel uninvited."

"Apologies, Folner," Tyr began to explain. "We knew you were resting up from the previous fight. We didn't want to wake you prematurely."

"Am I the only one who sleeps around here?"

"They didn't call me either," Arla noted. "I just woke up a little under an hour ago."

"We all slept, but you always seem to be the last one up," Ralik said. "Is it a human thing?"

"It's a biotic thing," Kevin proudly answered before finally taking a good look outside.

He wasn't sure what he was looking at. The viewports were filled with a dark, murky, thick cloud. It didn't emit any light, nor did it seem to reflect any of the light from the galactic disc, but was visible only by the lights on the front of the Kellius focusing their illuminating power forward.

"What's this?" Kevin asked the collective group.

Ralik released one of his hands from their crossed position over his chest to point out to the viewports. The hand bounced as he struggled to find a proper answer. "We're. . . Not entirely sure yet. It looks like a nebula of some sort, but doesn't follow the conventional nebula description. It appears to be a dense cloud of dust and gas, but we're unable to confirm that."

"It's the source of the static we noticed before," Kar said. "Even up close, we can't get any readings on it. It just eats all of our scans."

"There are many possible explanations for such behavior, such as various forms of ionized gases typical of some nebulae. The problem is, most ionized gases emit something, usually in the form of visible or infrared light or radiation. This. . . It emits nothing. To be more precise, it seems to absorb everything other than physical matter."

"How did we end up with static if it absorbs everything?" Kevin asked.

"If we knew that, we'd have a much better idea of what this was," Tosh avoided. "It seems attributed to the specific scan technology that we used to find it, but even still, all it returns is static."

"More curious than that is it's shape," Kar noted while tapping on his terminal. The main screen he sat in front of, visible to all, rendered a blurry, three dimensional shape that was missing an entire side. "I took several small deviations to our direct flight path so that I could try and get a better idea of what the shape of this strange anomaly might look like. From what I gathered, I rendered this. It looks like a very loose parabola or catenary with the top of the arc facing the galaxy. So loose that up close it looks like a wall, but at the distance we were at, might appear to be a shield."

"Perhaps remnants of some sort of explosion?" Kevin thought aloud.

"That might explain it's supposed shape, but not anything else," Tosh replied.

"Does the Kellius have any probes or remote scanning devices?" Arla asked.

"This isn't a scout ship, so no," Kevin declined.

After a slight lull in the conversation, Kar spoke up again. "What we were discussing when you showed up was whether or not we should try pushing through it."

"I'm against it," Tyr quickly spoke out. "Nebulae have a history of varying internal densities, massive sizes and electrically disruptive makeups. We know _nothing_ about this one, so it would be tantamount to suicide to try and pass through it."

"Tosh and I both want to sate our scientific curiosities by getting an internal look, but we do have to agree with Tyr. Without knowing anything about this nebula, we could be setting ourselves up to fail catastrophically."

"We have nothing else to look at," Kar put forth. "We might as well take a look-see. There's no evidence that it will harm us, either."

"It completely neutralizes anything we use to scan it. There's no telling what else it will neutralize if we fly inside," Tyr countered.

"How big is this thing, at least as far as this side's surface?" Kevin inquired.

"There are two dimensions we have enough data to speculate on," Tosh answered. "Without any other form of reference, I am using the galactic disc's orientation to base which is height and which is width. Height-wise, the distance is finite. From our current location which is near the 'bottom', it would take us about six hours at full FTL to reach the edge. Width? It stretches farther than our scanners can detect."

"It's your call, Kevin," Tyr said. "In the captain's absence, you have authority over the Kellius."

Kevin pondered for a moment, but his decision didn't take long to make. "We go around."

"But-" Kar objected.

"We go around!" Kevin said, his voice raised enough to cut Kar off. "I'd rather spare a few hours rather than risk cutting our mission unthinkably short."

"U-Understood. Plotting FTL course to the edge of the nebula."

With that decided, the group that had stuffed themselves into the bridge began to exit to find something to do until they reached the edge of the nebula. Amongst the mass exodus, Kevin and Arla found each other.

"I suppose now would be as good a time as any for some lessons," Kevin suggested.

"I was just thinking that myself," Arla concurred. "After we grab a bite, though. I don't know about you, but I'm wasting away, here."

Kevin didn't have to say anything to agree with her – the timely growl from his empty stomach heard through his suit did that well enough. After a quick but hearty meal, they headed to engineering for tech lessons. They both sat down at the workbench as they usually did, but this time the experimental drone was absent.

"Today we're stepping it up a notch," Arla informed. "I'm going to start teaching you the art of re-engineering – something we quarians have mastered. Most times, this will challenge you to pull skill and knowledge from everything we've gone over so far, so it only gets more interesting from here."

"Let's do it up, then," Kevin said eagerly while cracking his knuckles.

"Re-engineering starts with a mentality, not so much with just skills. You have to believe that every piece of junk tech can be used for a different purpose, so long as it is not so damaged that the parts have become literally unusable. Old tech, salvaged parts, even parts thought ruined – with the proper know-how, it can be combined to do things they weren't originally built for, unless your goal is refurbishing."

"Okay. Do we have anything I can work on?"

"I-" Arla paused. It seemed she hadn't thought before hand about what possible tech he could use to work on for this lesson. She tilted her head while staring at him before jumping up and heading for the door into the cargo bay. "Hold on, I have an idea."

Several minutes later, Arla returned from the bay with three weapons in her arms. She had a pistol, a submachine gun, and a shotgun, all of which were old weapons that were replaced when they grabbed the Rosenkov armaments from the Cerberus boarding team. She placed them on the bench and sat down. Once seated, she simply stared at Kevin.

Kevin looked down at them in confusion. "Alright, old guns. What can I do with these? We've already got better gear."

"This is your salvaged tech. Say you just pulled these out of some wreckage. What do you do with them?"

"Junk tech can be used for other purposes, huh? I suppose I'd keep it. . . But without knowing what to do with it, that'd just make me a hoarder, not a re-engineer specialist."

"And that is where the learning begins. If it helps, reducing the salvage to its basic parts either physically or in your head can help you figure out what you can do with it."

Kevin nodded and prepped his omni-tool for disassembling the weapons. He started his work by disassembling each gun to its most basic components. Not a difficult task, since he had been working on taking apart guns of that age and level of tech for a long time. He noticed that as he labored, Arla was paying minimal attention to his work and more to him. Not surprising, really. This was the most mundane part of the project, and she was now more interested in what he did rather than how he did it. Even still, it didn't stop Kevin from feeling awkward. It was like she was watching over his shoulder with the sole intention of making him feel unnerved.

After several minutes, all of the weapons were fully disassembled, their core parts carefully spread about the table. They were grouped together gun per gun in case that Kevin found that he'd have to reassemble one at a later point. All that was left for him to do was come up with an alternate use for it all. Surely if he stared at it for a while, an ingenious creation would come to him, right?

And so he stared. And stared.

After a while of inactivity, he noticed Arla tapping her fingers. That was her unconscious gesture of impatience. There wasn't much he could do about it – he was drawing a blank. He picked up a couple of pieces to make it look like he had an idea of what he was doing and started placing them together in the empty space on the workbench in hopes of sparking some useful ideas. After each rearrangement, he'd stare at it for a moment and rearrange it again. Something had to work.

"So all this time you had biotics and you didn't tell any of us?" Arla asked, shattering the silence as well as Kevin's fabricated concentration.

"I didn't see any need to. Besides, Ralik knew and he didn't say anything, which means he didn't see any reason to either."

"That's a tired dodge tactic, Kevin."

"Alright, then how about this? In Grissom Academy, an education facility specifically designed – physically and in the curriculum – to teach biotic human children how to handle being a biotic, they drilled into our heads that we should be discrete about being a biotic."

Arla's head slid back in surprise. "Why is that?"

Kevin absentmindedly shifted the parts on the table. "Biotics among humans are still extremely rare, Arla, and though we seem like a relatively unified race, we have troubles like everyone else. Biotics are seen as 'different', and human social standards still have underlying problems with anyone that can be considered outside the norm. Some people just think it's not fair that we're endowed with the ability to do things that the vast majority of the human race simply can't."

"I see. . ." Arla said as she trailed off in thought. "Alright, so I get why you didn't say anything. Why didn't you use it to win the fight with me, then?"

"The dark energy manifested by a biotic is no toy. It can't be precisely controlled to a decimal point in terms of output and location like eezo related machinery can. More likely than not, if I had used biotics to win that bout, you'd have wound up dead or very, very broken. I'm not saying I don't have control. I just think that turning you into a bloody mess of suit pieces, bones and sinew on the far wall was not what I wanted to achieve in front of your squadmates in the event my concentration twitched." Again, he reorganized the parts into another obscure pattern.

Arla gave Kevin a look that was difficult to read behind her helmet. He guessed it was probably one of mild disgust at the thought of that outcome or one of disbelief in the face of his ego-building description of it.

"It's like carrying a gun around unshielded, unarmored civilians. You never, _never_ point it at someone you don't intend to kill. Why take the chance that something might not go wrong?"

"But you can also use it defensively, though. I saw plenty evidence of that on the geth ship."

"Using a biotic barrier in that fight would have proved more counter-productive than useful. I can't get through a biotic barrier that you can't, and I needed to press my attack to keep you on the defensive." He paused. "You don't know much about biotics, do you?"

"I've never really had personal contact with a biotic before."

There was a moment of silence as the conversation lost momentum and died out. Arla wasn't quite willing to let it die completely, though, and shot out one last powerful inquiry.

"Why didn't you use your biotics to save captain Kortel like you did me?"

Kevin stopped dead in the middle of shifting some parts and sighed. "Why do you guys keep. . . It's not that simple. If I could just erect barriers, shove geth and create singularities on a simple whim, we both might have made it. By the time I even had any chance to gather the dark energy to do anything, the captain was already down with injuries! I couldn't-"

"Kevin!" she interrupted. "I wasn't accusing you. I know you did what you could. I just wanted to hear your side of the story. You didn't get any chance to explain, and I figured that would be weighing on you. . ."

"It doesn't matter," Kevin shot back, shrugging it off. "What's done is done. Either way, the captain was right. She said that if I stayed to help her or go back to get her afterwards, we'd all be dead. She called it, Arla. I abandoned our captain to die, but she knew I wouldn't have a choice. And she was right."

Arla went silent. All she could do was stare at the workbench.

Kevin did as well, only to end up realizing that after all this time, he'd not gotten anywhere with his lesson. "Sorry, Arla, but I think I'm failing pretty hard at this re-engineering thing."

Happy to help change the subject, Arla looked up to Kevin. "You're still learning. I suppose it was a bit ambitious of me to expect you to piece all this together while you're in the middle of lessons. I can't say that these parts were the best for an intro to this subject either."

Kevin pushed the mess of old gun parts to the far side of the bench, frustrated.

"We'll come back to this at a later time, Kevin. Maybe – for now – we should move on to combat training?"

After looking over the amorphous pile of parts one more time, Kevin drew in a breath and nodded. "Sure. At least with that, I know I can perform. Should we try to get these back together?"

"I suppose. I'd rather get this cleaned up now than have to deal with it next time."

Kevin grimaced. He was hoping otherwise. As they struggled to reorganize the parts according to their original gun specifications, Kevin was the one to start up the conversation. "So. . . Since you're the only remaining officer of the squad, does this mean you get bumped up to captain?"

"No. In quarian society, a captain is much more than just a military rank. An officer only gets named captain when her superiors and direct subordinates believe she is ready for such a demanding position."

"That seems a bit odd. How does a ship function in times of crisis if it has no central authority?"

"Taking command and ascending to captain are two very different concepts, Kevin. If you mean to ask whether or not I can take command, then under normal circumstances, answer is yes. But. . . We're not operating under normal circumstances."

"No superiors to give input and someone on the ship who actually owns the ship itself. Sounds like quite the gray area."

Arla put down a finished weapon. "I don't know if I could handle it, Kevin. Siri was such a strong, levelheaded woman. I'm not sure if I could ever fill her suit, you know?" There was a hint of nervousness in her voice. A bit of vulnerability that Kevin already knew was rare, and he wasn't going to let it get away by staying silent.

"Then use that to set a goal for yourself, Arla. If you let it get to a point where you fear it, you'll never push yourself to be better than Siri was. Sooner or later, you might get the opportunity to become a captain yourself."

"But I'm not so sure that's even what I want. I never envied Siri's position as captain. I know about some of the impossibly difficult decisions she had to make. Like leaving her injured crew to die." At this point, Arla had trailed off in her work assembling the weapons. She was merely holding two parts, tapping them together.

"You think you won't have to make tough decisions before we get back?" Kevin put some parts down and turned to look Arla straight in the eye. "It's a reality of galactic life that we all have to face. The high rank military folks just have to do it more often and involve more people. You might as well push to be the best captain you can be and ready yourself to accept the position when it comes." He resumed his work right as he finished.

There was a lapse in the conversation before Arla chuckled and shook her head. "Keelah. I never thought I'd be getting a pep session from _you_."

Kevin put the last completed gun down next to the others and stood. "What can I say. I like being unpredictable. Now come on. Let's get working on that combat training or we'll get cut short."

"Right," Arla agreed and she stood as well. The two left the reassembled guns on the workbench and promptly exited engineering.

Up in the entertainment room, Arla removed her armor alone as she waited for Kevin to return. He had mentioned having a plan to help him analyze her progress and provide visual examples for her learning experience. A few minutes after her armor was already off, he showed up. In each hand he carried a kitchen utensil – a mixing spatula and a big spoon – and he had water bottles tucked in the crease of each arm. The spoon was coated in some form of reddish powder and the spatula was coated in blue. He walked right over to Arla and offered them both to her.

"Hold these, please," he said.

Arla took them as instructed, but not without questions of her own. "What are these for?"

Kevin began to remove his armor pieces. "These are our weapons of choice for today. The powder you see on them is some dried food coloring I found in the kitchen. It will mark our suits if we come into contact with the 'weapon.' We can track hits, slash direction and length of the hit this way."

"Will this stain?" Arla asked, wary. She unconsciously gripped the hem of her hood.

"I have no clue," he replied as he set the last piece of armor on the floor. He stepped over to her and took the red-tinted spoon from her hand. "Ready?"

Arla nodded and the training began. Like every training session before, conversation between the two duelists was minimal. Occasionally a playful insult or snappy remark would split the sound of scuffles and clashing kitchen objects, but otherwise it was limited to instructional advice and related questions. All business. Once in a while they'd stop and they'd search each other's bodies for colored slash marks. Often Kevin was without and Arla was marked well. Kevin stuck to his constructive criticism approach whenever he explained the marks she had received, since that seemed to work best for her.

He was quickly learning what Arla's flaw was with her ability in weaponized melee combat. Because of her experience with hand to hand, she didn't quite grasp the concept of prioritizing her attention to where the weapon was. She seemed to follow combat the way she normally would in a bout, often gaining slashes on her arms and legs as she attempted to block his strikes without using her own weapon, and would-be fatal stabs and slashes whenever she miscalculated the reach of the weapon beyond his arm length. Kevin was aware of these flaws, and was trying to subtly point them out during any explanation break. After a few hours of this stop-and-go object oriented combat, they retired to the side of the room to wind down and rest a bit.

Kevin sat down close next to Arla and popped his food-tube so he could sip at his drink."Why do you carry that knife around with you if you've never really used it for combat before?"

Arla, distracted with patting herself down to remove the lines of powder, took a moment to respond. "Utility, mostly. I suppose, in the back of my mind, I always figured I could use it in a fight if I got pushed into a tight spot. You showed me otherwise." She popped her tube as well and took a long, satisfying drink. "You couldn't just let a lady win, could you?"

"Would you want me to let you win, or would you want me to show you how a man wins his fights?" The arrogant tone he held was more playful than insulting.

She backhanded his shoulder, causing a bit of water to splash out of his bottle and onto the floor. "Pff. You're lucky tech doesn't rely on someone beating the crap out of another to prove superiority."

"I agree. I'd be splattered on a wall if I fought you with. . . Er, tech. Knowledge. Knowledge of tech. Which is why I'm learning. So there's no splattering. I'd rather be beating you to death with a spoon." Kevin picked up his spoon, which was relatively clean around its edges.

Arla picked up her spatula. Not so clean. During the few hours they spent practicing, she had failed to land a solid strike on him with it. Any powder lost during the lesson was a result from them smacking the cooking tools together. Despite this, she didn't look ready to give up just yet. After another long sip, Kevin watched Arla stand up and step back to the center of the room, brandishing her spatula. Such a preposterous scene made Kevin laugh, and though it was obvious that Arla was serious in wanting another shot, she couldn't deny the silliness of a quarian officer showing off a threatening human oriented cooking tool.

"Again?" Kevin asked, surprised. She had never gone on beyond the end-session rest. He _did_ happen to notice, however, that nobody had called them to the bridge yet, meaning they still had some time to kill before Kar considered them effectively beyond the nebula's bottom edge. He looked up to Arla who was eagerly waiting for him to continue. He smirked and started for the center of the room. "Alright. You've got me for a second round."

"Can we do the slow motion combat where we pause for each maneuver again? That really helped me grasp some fundamentals last time you tried that."

Kevin tilted his head and thought about it. That was the first time since they began that Arla really expressed enough interest in a particular method to specifically ask for it. For some reason, that made him smile a proud teacher's smile. ". . . Sure. Ready?"

Arla nodded and Kevin immediately stepped in for the first strike. The moment that Arla parried, they froze. "Where to from here?" Kevin asked his student.

"I. . . Go here." The combat resumed with a snap when Arla used her advantageous position from the parry to cut in towards Kevin's chest. Kevin was ready for that, though, and slid to the side and back enough to go beyond the reach of her weapon. He countered by using his open hand to press her arm against herself after her swing was complete and brought his blade around to get her in the side. She dodged it by using Kevin's push against him, falling back away from the blade and ready again. Once more the combat came to a planned screeching halt.

"And now?" Kevin responded.

"A different approach!" She shouted as she went in low this time.

This type of combat went on for several more moves. Each time, Arla was able to make it through without taking a hit, but she was continually losing ground to Kevin's more aggressive maneuvers. Several moves later, Arla was effectively backed up against the wall. Kevin was watching her like a predator, but he was impressed that he had thus far failed to land a single hit.

Arla, whose heels were pressed against the wall behind her, was looking nervous. This was a very, very bad position to be in in terms of melee combat, and she knew it.

"What's your next move, Arla?" Kevin asked, having given her some time to analyze her situation.

"This," she stated as she swooped in to strike. She aimed for a strange angle she had not really tried before, going for that unpredictable nature that Kevin was always preaching to her. It almost paid off. Kevin expected an attack that she had used before and his preemptive stance would have shrugged such an attack off with little effort. This unexpected angle forced him to switch tactics in a split second, which nearly cost him a hit. He wasn't caught completely off-guard, however, and he was able to properly, if barely, parry the attack off to the side.

With Arla already backed up against the wall, there wasn't any reason to continue the training in this fashion. The bout was over, and Kevin executed a complicated suppression move from his military days that spun Arla one hundred and eighty degrees and pressed her into the wall. Her weapon was hooked from her hand, and the disarmed hands were forced together and jammed against the wall above her head and held in place by Kevin's free hand. Arla was kept from retaliating by Kevin's collective body-weight, also pressing her into the wall. Kevin's rounded spoon was pressed against Arla's side, simulating a potentially deadly suppression hold.

Kevin leaned his head in so that the mouth of his helmet was juxtaposed to Arla's head and he whispered into her ear. "Close, but not quite. I win, hot stuff."

At that very moment, the door opened up and Bela stepped into the entertainment room. "Kevin, Arla, Tyr told me to come get you and bring you to the bridge so that. . ." Bela's statement trailed off to silence as she observed the scene in front of her. She tilted her head as she stared.

Kevin and Arla, bodies pressed together against the wall turned to look at the sudden intruder. Quickly realizing how the scene appeared, both froze in withheld embarrassment, seemingly waiting for Bela to react. Instead, Arla spoke up. "T-Tell Garloh that we will be up in a minute. We're wrapping up combat training. Combat training, Bela."

Bela's tilted head straightened back up. "Combat training. Riiiiiight._ Ahem_. Well, I'll go tell Tyr, then." Bela backed out of the room slowly, swinging her hanging hands back and forth. When she finally stepped beyond the threshold, the door shut.

Kevin felt heat in his face. Enough to kick the suit's automated anti-sweat systems up a notch. Looking back to his. . . 'Restrained' student, he drew in a breath. He expected Arla to protest the inexplicably maintained position without hesitation. Strangely, she did not. In fact, the two stayed there for another minute or so before either said anything.

"Okay, um. Today's lesson is uh. . . is done." Kevin finally backed up off of Arla and stood uneasily off to the side.

Arla cleared her throat and rolled her head as she worked to speak. "To the bridge, then?"

"Yes. To the bridge." They both started off towards the door immediately. Only upon reaching the door did they both stop at the same time and look at each other.

"Armor," they muttered in unison. Their frantic race to get their armor on did absolutely nothing to clear the awkward air in the room. They finished in silence and headed for the door.

"Why. Why did it have to be Merni?" Arla nervously thought aloud. "She can't keep her trap shut about _normal_ things. Now everyone on the ship will think. . ."

"Think what?" Kevin asked, trying to keep agonizing silence from retaking its ground.

"Will think. . . Will think that we were, you know. . Fooling around." Arla's hands were flying about in conversational gestures as she spoke. This only happened when she was nervous or distraught.

"But we weren't."

"Right. We weren't."

"It was only combat training. They all know that's what we were doing, anyways."

"Of course. Bela's rumors will fall flat on their face, right? Nothing to worry about."

Kevin nodded, but he knew for a fact that they were trying hard to convince themselves more than each other. Why were they suddenly so worried about what Bela might say? Since when did he care? Kevin's face scrunched up with uncertainty as he walked through the hall. There were feelings surfacing that he thought he had forgotten. He was not really surprised, yet at the same time it caught him off his guard. He was honestly unsure about how to handle it, which meant that he was – in the end – unsure of himself. With Nor, it was decided quickly and with surety. Their decision ran off of the momentum of their time together. It had ended just as fast, and left him frustrated with himself. With Arla, anything he might feel or has felt has been slowly approached with caution. Why? Following Nor's death, he walked the well worn path of other men who had fallen into similar fates and branded all of it a trap that could only lead to unnecessary negative emotions and a stark lack of productivity.

Emotions. One of the most complicated aspects of sapience. It turns out he couldn't leave such a human thing behind after all, no matter how in control he tried to appear or how many lives he ended.

When the two duelists made it to the bridge, it was already populated with the rest of the crew. Outside the viewports was the same old deep darkness that they had been viewing since they jumped through the relay. The terminals in the bridge were all alight with data. It seemed Kar was a busy bee.

"Now that you two are done pounding the dark matter out of each other, we can discuss what's been going on," Tyr lectured. He had a way of speaking like he was a firm but fair instructor at all times, even when he wasn't giving advice or debriefing.

"We're passed the nebula?" Kevin questioned expectantly.

"Indeed. Welkas, please continue."

"We've been passed the bottom edge of the dark nebula for almost two hours now. Initial scans I took upon leaving FTL show some puzzling details. For starters, I've concluded that the nebula we spent hours going around is only about one point four million kilometers thick. That's a hair thicker than your home system's star, Kevin."

"That's- Wow. That's pretty thin for a nebula," Kevin replied. "Almost suspicious. Considering the overall shape is arcing _towards_ the galactic disc, it doesn't seem a little anomalous to you guys?"

"Impossible to determine," Ralik interjected. "We're traveling far beyond what anyone else has ever explored. To say something out here in the fringes of dark space is anomalous is jumping to absurd conclusions. We simply don't know enough about how this has come to be to make any deductions. That said, I won't dismiss the strange nature of the nebula."

"Like the fact that it appears uniform from end to end?" Tosh asked Ralik, intentionally spurring on debate and discussion.

"For starters. It's not wispy or bulbous like most. It's not _anything_."

Tosh leaned on the back of Kar's chair with his elbows. "Think about it. This nebula's very nature masks not only its own presence from the prying eyes of galactic life, but anything behind it as well. Intentional, perhaps?"

"Focus," Tyr stepped in to end it before the conversation derailed. Tosh and Ralik did as told and ceased. "Continue, Welkas."

"Actually, chief, they make an interesting point. Observe." Kar switched the focus of the several terminal screens to show scans of something in the distance. "LADAR picked this up an hour after we cleared the nebula's edge. According to these readings, it's about three hours worth of FTL travel to reach it."

The stunned silence on the bridge by itself was enough for Kevin to lean in like the others to take a look. What he saw surprised him as well. He raised his right brow and instinctively brought a hand to his helmet-covered chin. What lay beyond the dark nebula passed the furthest known reaches of the galaxy?

A lone star system.


	29. Chapter 28

_**Chapter 28**_

"Log seventy-nine. Time reference – first year anniversary since the birth of the children. A lot has happened in the past year, and the team is pushing through trial and tribulation. I will make one last note that this is the third log where recordings have been intentionally spread out over one month or more to reduce the amount of clutter in this collection of logs. Now that the children are getting into advanced stages of physical development, data worth noting will gradually slow until they can begin any manifestations of biotic power. We are confident at this stage that each will grow as naturally as they have been over the past months.

"The entire project staff has been speculating over how soon we will see biotic manifestations and how powerful they might be. Many are taking a neutral, somewhat realistic stance and simply waiting to see. Some are encouraging pessimism, saying that getting our hopes up will only lead to disappointment. Others still are anxious, excited. They nearly froth at the mouths at the thought of seeing serious biotic potential before puberty. I must confess to being a part of the latter group myself."

McRoilie laughed. A first thus far in these logs. The laughter faded as if the fervent researcher had remembered an unpleasant memory, and was eventually followed by a calm sigh.

"It has been officially decided that Day Omega will be ninety days after their biotic potential has manifested, and that the children are to be given amnesiac drugs and shipped off to an educational facility designed to handle rare cases and biotics. Our involvement after that will be satellite observation only – we are not to have any further contact with the subjects for any reason.

"On the upside, our project lead seems quite pleased with our current rate of progress. As a token of his appreciation for being where we are, he's sending an extra shipment of luxury wines, entertainment and other assorted pleasantries. He also promised to take care of the pirating problem so that we actually _get_ our shipments this time. Hopefully he'll remember to send replacement parts for all the sensitive equipment failing around the children's playroom. McRoilie out."

_First birthday_, Kevin typed up in the description field. _Odd note about equipment failing in close proximity to grouped subjects_._ First log denoting Day Omega. . . Not decided at start of project?_ After a short hesitation, Kevin made one addendum. _Creepy happy laughter._

A quick glance at the clock next to his terminal showed that he had time for one more log before they were scheduled to drop from FTL just outside the very edge of a mysterious and solitary star system. As he selected the next file in the directory, he paused. The file had no description like the others, but did not have a number. It was simply titled '_? wat ?_'. He figured he must have had a bit too much to drink the last time he'd gotten to this portion of the files. Shrugging it off, he opened the audio.

"Log eighty. Time reference – Well, something around six months since last entry. Forgive the directness with the timing, it's simply been a long time. The children are progressing at a nominal rate. Aside from frequent electronic failures around the observation room, things couldn't be going smoother. My reason for creating this log is not about the continued success of the growth of the subjects, however. Within the last week, there have been several unconfirmed reports of biotic usage. Local sensors seem to be picking up weak mass effect fields here and there in the children's rooms, but nothing significant.

"That's not all. Just yesterday, two observers witnessed one of the children batting around a plush bear. The thing is, the bear was hardly being affected by the artificial gravity wells of the station, and the sensors confirmed that a weak mass effect distortion field was in the observation room at the time of the event. This means that we are seeing active biotic manifestation in the children at an age completely unprecedented even by asari standards. The significance of these findings is incredible!

"Unfortunately, this causes more problems than it solves. All at once, each of the children are at serious risk of tearing each other and themselves apart without understanding what's going on. We will need to keep each of the children under very strict observation regimens from this point on. Additionally, that would also mean that their brains are working in extra overtime to complete such feats, which could potentially be extremely detrimental to their health in more aspects than one. Lastly, this would also mean that we are only to keep the children for ninety more days before they are taken off this station. Th-they are not in any state to be leaving! The facility they would be heading to is not prepared to accept these special students, not at this age! I know I'm going to get reamed out beyond belief for this, but we have all decided to send a false report to the project lead, leaving him to believe nothing of note has happened. Tomorrow, we'll do this and discuss what course of action we'll take. For whoever reviews these logs, please tell him we apologize, and we hope he can see it's for the best!"

There was a pause as another muffled voice in the distance interrupted the researcher.

"No Allison, not right now! I'm finishing this log and my stress is through the bloody roof!"

A door opened in the background.

"Liam! Liam, come on!" A girl's voice. Kevin deduced this was Allison.

"No, stay out! Wait one more minute, I'm not finished!"

"Come here, Mick Roller. . . Rick Moller. . . Rick Roller. . . Haha. . . How do you name your say again?"

"Oh dear Lord in heaven. . . You're drunk! Get out! Get. . . Cover yourself up, the camera's still- Oh God."

"Hiiiiii!" Kevin winced as 'Allison' screamed into the recording.

"You drank this? Allison, you're supposed to dilute it first! They don't- They ship this concentrated!"

"It tastes fiiiiine to meeeee!" There was a slew of sloshed giggles that followed, which resulted in some rustling.

"Oh God. Oh God, no! Don't vomit on my bloody. . . Coat. Allison! Son-of-a. . . Uh, McRoilie out!"

There were clicks and smacks which Kevin interpreted as 'Liam' trying to stop the recording. After several failed attempts, the crazed researcher was finally able to shut it down. A smile grew on Kevin's face as he began renaming the file and adding the description. _'80' First signs of biotic potential. Also first signs of disagreement with project lead. Also first signs of wild parties. Contains hilarity between 'Liam' McRoilie and 'Allison'._

Kevin sat back shaking his head. He couldn't decide on whether or not it was a good thing that the video was corrupted. After one final shake of the head, Kevin cleared his terminal and shut it down. He wasn't going to be the last one called to the bridge this time. No sir.

Kevin joined Tosh in the hallway on his way up to the bridge. Up front, the only person already there was the only person constantly expected to be there – Kar'Welkas. He had up in front of him a render of an alien star system, continually updating as new data filed in from the scanners. Outside the viewports was a distant star, extremely easy to spot against the foreboding blackness behind it. As Tosh and Kevin stepped into the bridge, Kar jumped at the unexpected observers.

"Oh! Kevin, Tosh! I was going to call you all up the moment I got some more complete data here. It's. . . Incomplete right now, but I can't seem to isolate _why_ it's incomplete."

"Well, call Arla and Tyr up here first, then tell us what you found," Kevin suggested. "Once the situation is explained, we'll take a look at the problem."

Kar did so, and the two called were up in a matter of minutes.

Tyr stepped in asking for information like he tended to do. "What are we looking at, Welkas?"

"I'll start from the center and work out. What we have is an F-class star system with five planets and its own resident asteroid belt."

One generic description in and Ralik steps onto the bridge with disbelief. "Did you say F-class? Way out here? Impossible. That defies everything we know about the galaxy. That star should be dead."

Tosh was more than happy to join in. "Indeed. There are no star birthing nebulae anywhere near here. To say that this star simply drifted way out here with it's planets. . ."

"Ralik, Tosh, _please._" Tyr could only take so much of the scientific duo's interruptive theorizing and discussion.

Without being prompted, Kar continued. "The innermost two planets are different degrees of pressure cookers. They orbit too close to the star to provide any interest. The third resides in the calculated habitation circle. I can't get any decent readings from here, but it might hold something interesting. Beyond that is the asteroid belt. Again, I can't get solid scans from this distance, but as you know, asteroid belts usually mean lucrative mining opportunities. Next up is a gas giant with a very fast and acute elliptical orbit. My speculation on this is limited by extremely finite data, but I'd have to guess that it passes through the asteroid belt four times before one orbit is complete. Anyways, the final planet seems to be a featureless frozen mass. Its orbit is almost four times the distance of the fourth planet's estimated peak elliptical distance from the star."

Tosh and Ralik looked as though they wanted to add their expert opinions, but Tyr gave them a preemptive point and they kept quiet. "Welkas, take us in for a closer look. We need to find out everything we can about this enigmatic system."

"Yes, sir."

As the Kellius resumed its approach to the system, Kevin folded his arms tight against his body and pulled Tyr off to the side. "I don't know if you noticed, but. . . We've still got a problem." He spoke low enough to keep others from hearing.

"Yeah," Tyr responded, also folding his arms. "Still no return relay, even in the star system. This does not bode well for us. If there isn't one here, then. . ."

The sense of dread that Kevin felt the first time he discovered the possibility of never being able to go back only deepened. He had high hopes that the strange nebula veil would have been hiding a relay of some sort. Instead, all they found was a seemingly typical F-class star system. Kevin grit his teeth and he peeked over his shoulder to see the others in the bridge quietly but enthusiastically mulling over the possibilities held within that solitary system.

He looked back to Tyr who was looking to the floor and tapping his fingers against his arm. Kevin realized that Tyr had the duty of telling his commanding officer the news, who would then tell the others on the team. He could easily tell Tyr was heavily conflicted about it. On one hand, not telling anyone would hopefully keep morale high enough to do the research they came to do. On the other, he was keeping the truth from his squadmates as well as his ranking officer. If he did what he was supposed to, he was essentially informing them of their own doom. Kevin did not envy Tyr's current position.

Kevin slapped Tyr's shoulder. "Come on, we've got a job to do. Let's get what we came for and figure it out as we go."

"Do you organize all your plans this way?"

"Like I've told people before: I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy," Kevin said with confidence and a hidden smile.

Tyr let out a sigh. "We're going to have to tell them sooner or later."

"Tell us what?" Arla asked, stepping up to Kevin and Tyr.

The two looked at each other for support and Kevin spoke up. "That. . . We should be documenting everything we find from here on out. We know it's not everyone's favorite job, so we were talking about how to break it to you guys."

"Is that all?" Arla replied enthusiastically. "No worries, then, since Ralik and Tosh have already started compiling data. Leave it to those two."

"I guess that makes thing a bit easier for us, then," Tyr said with a nod before heading back into the bridge.

At this point, the Kellius was nearly midway through the star system with every possible scanning technology working overtime. When they reached the asteroid belt, the ship came to a halt.

"Why are we stopping?" Riik asked as he stepped into the bridge with Bela.

"I'd like to get as much of this asteroid belt's makeup documented before moving on," Kar stated. Within moments of Kar's finished statement, one of the terminals blinked red repeatedly and chimed ominously with each flash. It depicted a ship within the asteroid belt with a signature far too similar to a geth mining vessel to be anything but.

"Stealth!" several people shouted in unison. Not more than a second later, Kar had the IES3 active.

"Keelah, not them again," Arla said with a shake of her head. "I thought we left them behind in the An'Ramini Expanse." Several others had similar reactions.

"Everyone calm down," Kevin said with arms out. "We speculated they'd be on this side too, but we had no evidence to support it. Now we do. Kar, can't we just go around?"

Kar nodded.

"Then let's do so. If we play our cards right, hopefully we will be able to avoid any further contact with the geth. We're not really in any position right now to go picking fights." Kevin's speech was only internally marred by a growing hatred for the geth. He wanted every opportunity to destroy all the infernal synthetics they came across, but common sense was keeping that in check. For now.

Meanwhile, Kevin turned his attention to the results of the scans they had obtained so far. They got good looks at the furthest planet as well as the gas giant, but as Kar pointed out earlier, they were incomplete. It seemed the only thing they could get any level of detail out of was the composition of the surface and perhaps a couple hundred meters below it. Even the gas giant came back as a mess of atmospheric interference. Ralik must have noticed too. He was stroking his chin and shaking his head.

"Curiouser and curiouser," the salarian muttered.

The asteroid belt, however, did yield a bit more data. Aside from the number of geth mining operations, each rock seemed to hold some sort of valuable metal or mineral, and some so exotic that they had no name or record of molecular composition. As much as several of the team members wanted to pause and perform sampling and research, their real target was the third planet from the star. They could always return to the belt later. After their cautious detour around the belt was complete, the Kellius took aim and headed straight for their main destination.

"All scans are focused on the third planet," Kar informed. Ralik and Tosh took up positions in the chairs on his sides to get a good look at the incoming data. After a couple minutes, the data was in and Kar shook his head in bewildered disappointment. The planet showed up blank below the crust like the others. "Not again. Terra, execute diagnostics on the scanning modules. Search for faults."

"Performing a diagnostic check. . ." Terra chimed once every second to indicate that the action was still running as requested. "Kar'Welkas, the operation you requested has completed. There are no faults within the scanning technology modules."

Kar threw his hands up. "I'm at a loss, everyone. I don't know why the planets are coming up hollow. It just doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't matter anyways," Ralik jovially noted. "There are more than enough reasons on the surface alone to inspect the planet personally." Everyone looked to Ralik, waiting for him to continue. Ralik in turn held onto his information just a bit longer to build dramatic suspense, relishing in everyone's sudden impatience. "It has an atmosphere. Not quite breathable, but it's close enough that a small terraforming project could make it so with very little impact on the ecosystem."

"Ecosystem?" Bela asked in surprise.

"Yes. Well, a strange one, but it's there. The planet could potentially be classified as a garden world, but there doesn't seem to be any wildlife at all. Somehow the vegetation here has adapted to thrive without a symbiotic relationship to any other life. At least, that's what it looks like from here. There's water, solid tectonics. . ."

"And one heck of a magnetosphere," Tosh interjected. "It's strong. Absurdly so for a planet of its size, but I suppose that's how the planet's vegetation and water survive the peak of whatever solar cycle the F-class star has."

"But that's not the most interesting part of all this," Ralik stated matter-of-factually. Again he let silence build tension. A light kick from Bela ended his dramatic buildup prematurely. "If these results are correct, it appears that the plant life on the planet is mainly dextro-amino based."

Kevin looked up at his squadmates. He knew just what kind of bombshell Ralik had dropped on the quarian members of his team. Not surprisingly, they were all looking at each other with obvious overflowing hope in their perpetually shimmering eyes.

"I agree with Dolannus," Riik finally said. "This planet is definitely worthy of some closer inspection."

Kevin smiled to himself as they flew in close to the planet. The excitement in the air grew so fast it was almost palpable. He stole another look at the terminal nearest him and his smile vanished instantly. "Ah, crap. Company." He tapped on the screen to zoom in on a red-marked zone on the planet.

"More geth?" Bela cried in despair with an exaggerated slump.

"Keelah, these things are everywhere," Tyr said, hardly surprised.

"We just can't win," Riik mumbled with a shake of his head.

"Everyone calm down," Kar impatiently demanded. "They're not everywhere. As long as we follow a flight path that won't be noticed by the ground troops, we can stealth in and land. Once the ship is powered down, we don't have to stealth anymore."

Kevin stepped up. "Right. Then we can establish a base of operations and find some way to hide it. I have a feeling the geth have no awareness of our arrival, so let's try to keep it that way."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Kar started an orbital run to get a more detailed look at the terrain, bodies of water and geth placement. It seemed that there were small pockets of geth sparsely scattered about the surface and the majority they saw earlier was clustered in a valley amidst a sprawling array of thick mountain ranges. After doing all they could from orbit, Kar piloted the Kellius down to the surface low enough to stay out of the sight of any geth. The most ideal staging area and landing location they could find was a flat patch of green land with thick mountain ranges on three sides. Unfortunately, this was also just on the other side of the tall center range that separated them from the valley the geth settled in. Kevin made it a point to call it "Geth Valley" from now on, a name he coined from an old Earth location. The upside was that the mountain range that served as an ample divider was tall enough to mask the Kellius' approach from the geth and hazardous enough that they wouldn't likely be worried about ground-based approaches. Ah, the convenience of natural barriers.

As they came down on their target out of geth visual and audio range, Kar noticed something else about the area in which the geth had chosen to congregate. "Hey guys, get a look at this. There are some strange energies based in the area where the geth have taken root. We couldn't see it from orbit – the magnetic field of the planet blurred it out."

"Are the geth the source?" Tosh asked.

"I don't think so. The source is diffused and decentralized, but that could just be a side effect of the mountain ranges. It's entirely possible the mountains are the source, and the geth are drawn to them."

"Just what kind of energies are we talking about?" Arla inquired curiously.

"Unknown," replied Ralik as he stared into a screen. "These frequencies, electromagnetic make-up. . . They don't match any known profiles that I've seen, and I've seen a lot. But the vegetation and landscape seem unaffected by them, so they probably aren't directly harmful in any way to organic compounds."

Tyr shifted. "Welkas, is our prospective landing site in the effective range of the energy?"

"Maybe at the very outer edges of it, but otherwise, no."

"Then that's the least of our worries right now. Let's focus on getting ourselves situated before the geth try anything funny. At least we'll be able to keep an limited eye on them while we do our research."

Arla nodded. "Right. Kar, let's land this thing. We just might have found a place to stay."

"Yes ma'am," Kar said, barely holding back his anxiousness.

Within the minute, the Kellius had arrived at their designated landing site in the middle of a mostly flat field and touched down on the planet's surface. They powered the engines down, but waited cautiously for ten minutes to see if there were any welcoming committees that would greet them. When none showed, the collective team breathed a sigh of relief and headed down to the cargo bay to take their first steps on a completely unknown garden world. Weapons in hand, they lowered the loading bay door and stepped out onto the foreign planet.

Both fortunately and unfortunately to Kevin, his first steps on the new planet were, well, normal. The ground was firm and covered in a short, leafy vegetation that collapsed easily under his boots. There was a breeze in the air, as told by the subtle swaying of the green, and the bright F-class star forced him to bring a hand in front of his face to block it when he stepped out from under the shadow of the ship. It was a friendly feeling, walking out onto a planet like this. Friendly, but lonely. He knew there was not a single other soul other than his squadmates on this planet.

And he was fine with that.

"Perimeter appears secure, ma'am," Riik stated as the team fanned out to surround the Kellius. Since they landed in the middle of a field, securing the perimeter wasn't exactly a longstanding task.

Arla took a look around. "Um, good. We should unload cargo critical to establishing a basecamp."

Kevin made a quick sweep around to take in their immediate surroundings and stepped up to Arla. "Alright. Then what?"

"Err. . ." Arla paused at her own lack of foresight. "Maybe we should put together a list of objectives."

"Good idea," Tyr agreed as he came around from his walk. "A bit of order going forward will help us stay focused."

After the team regrouped, they started to brainstorm several primary objectives for both the immediate future as well as the longterm. They had to trim the list to things that were critically important to their mission as given by the Admiralty Board. After they had finished organizing it chronologically, it looked something like this:

Establish a defensible basecamp capable of the research they need to perform

- Gather more detailed intel about the immediate area

- Use the Kellius' stealth to get a better idea of the geth's presence and movement in the system

- Form a ground team to investigate anomalous readings within and around the planet and to investigate the geth's interest in the planet

- Compile all the research and data to form a complete report about the planet and determine the planet's potential to house the quarian race

With direction established, the team set to work. Tyr assigned himself the job of tracking and pulling inventory from the cargo bay while everyone else was subsequently stuck with the labor of actually setting up the camp and physically removing the cargo to the surface via hovering clamp devices. No one seemed to be complaining, though. Everyone was content to be standing on solid ground again. Finally. . . Standing on a planet. One couldn't help but notice the positive energy in the air.

Items were removed from the crates in bulk, depending on what the items were. Most of it was equipment for observations, research and perimeter surveillance that Tarsil had procured for them on the Citadel. Ralik and Tosh worked carefully to transfer Ralik's lab to the surface one chunk at a time and then reassemble it in the middle of the conglomeration of partially unpacked gear. As crates were emptied, they were collapsed and stored off to the side to open up the bay.

About an hour into this offloading process, Tyr called out to Kevin over the comms. _"Kevin, can you come into the bay for a minute? I've. . . got something to show you."_

Kevin acknowledged and climbed the ramp to the cargo bay. He found Tyr standing by an open crate off to the side and he stepped on over. "What's up, Tyr?" Without waiting for a reply, he looked into the open mouth of the crate and, upon seeing a collection of shiny metal rods and blocks, turned back to Tyr. "What's this?"

"This. . . This is Food Storage Crate A C twenty-five."

"Food storage?" Kevin wondered aloud. Clearly metal bits were not edible. The markings on the crate indicated that this was one of the many crates that Tarsil had sent him. Knowing Tarsil, Kevin started a more detailed search of the crate. There was a very high chance that there was something more going on here. After a bit of rummaging, he found a datapad with a simple text document on it. As he turned it on, Tyr leaned in, curious to get a look.

_[Dear Kevin: Sorry if this took you by surprise, old friend. Your dock was not authorized for this sort of cargo to be loaded on any ship, much less yours. I jumped through a few hoops to get the codes on the crate hard modified to reflect a standard ration bundle. You can thank me later. Embedded in this text file is a compressed collection of details that you'll need. Don't go hungry on me because of this, alright? See you two when you arrive home.]_

_[P.S. - Assembly required!]_

Kevin shook his head with a huge grin. "Tarsil you wily son-of-a-gun."

"Assembly required?" Tyr asked in confusion. He and Kevin both accessed and downloaded the embedded details to their omni-tools for review. When they got a look at the main overview document, Tyr and Kevin both looked to each other and spoke in unison.

"The M-4 Skimmer?"

"Keelah, it's a compact scout hover vehicle!" Tyr realized.

Kevin let his head fall back. "And just when I was about to magically solve all our scouting problems. Tarsil, I'm going to throw salt in those big eyes of yours for showing me up _again_. Let me see here. . . Standard four-ex hover-pod mounted chassis, but smaller. No mass accelerators to speak of, but it seats up to five. Two in the front, two in the back and one facing backward sitting over the rear-mounted thrusters. Comes with a screen-only VI that runs mapping and landmarking software."

"Looks a bit drafty," Tyr commented, referring to the fact that the vehicle lacked a roof of any kind.

"That just means a full compliment armed to the teeth could provide great highly mobile short to medium range support to a ground team," Kevin noted, showing a bit of his militaristic past. "I like it."

"It's a scouting vehicle, not an armored personal carrier," Tyr corrected.

"Pff. It could work."

"I'll assemble a team to get this, well, assembled."

Kevin quickly jumped at the chance. "I volunteer."

"No offense to you by any means, Kevin, but you're not the most. . . technologically adept."

"I've been learning! Bah, fine. I'll just go unload crap I guess."

"Good. Send Rolush, Dolannus and the Lieutenant in on your way out."

Grumbling, Kevin spun around and walked out of the loading bay. Outside the ship he called to the three he was asked to and pointed them inside without any real explanation. After that business was taken care of, he resumed unloading cargo with Bela, Riik and Kar. It wasn't much longer until all the proper cargo was moved to the site. After Kevin set the final crate down into the unorganized mess that was the basecamp site, he spied Bela opening one up.

"Looks like the Admiralty Board thought ahead for us," she said as she pulled out some of the materials.

"What is it?" Kevin asked on his way over.

"Looks like a temporary shelter to cover all our equipment with."

"That's good," Riik pointed out as he pulled up a huge collapsable pole. "We didn't even think of the potential weather patterns this planet might have before we started unloading everything."

"Let's get this up before something ruins our day!" Bela seemed glad to keep busy.

"What, you wouldn't rather help those guys assemble the Skimmer?" Kevin taunted.

"The what? Are there weapons involved?"

"Probably not."

"Then they can do it without me. I've already got a project to work on." She turned away to focus on emptying the crate. She seemed to be having trouble, as the opening for the crate was nearly as high as her head.

"Alright you two, let's get to work," Riik butted in. "We've got a _tall_ order here."

"Right, setting up camp is no _small_ task," Kar added.

"At least we're not _short_ on enthusiasm," Kevin contributed.

Bela spun around, a grimace almost visible through her visor and a threatening grip on an extended support pole. "Hey! Hey hey! I hear _height jokes!_"

Kevin grinned at Riik and gave Kar a fist pound to commemorate their collaborative work. They decided to get to work before Bela lost it. As they got into the meat of the labor, Bela started to sing to herself. It was a surprisingly pleasant, if somber tune and it was completely alien to Kevin. His translator wasn't working on it for some reason. It must have been in some old or mostly unused quarian dialect. Kar and Riik didn't seem to mind the song either way. Kevin wasn't surprised, really. He had almost forgotten that Siri told him that Bela could sing and this simply confirmed her claims. What _did_ surprise him, however, was that her beautiful song seemed to help him focus on his work. It had been quite a while since he had listened to music while working – an old habit of his. He decided he'd hit her up for a song next time he needed to concentrate on getting something done.

Nearing the end of the multi-hour project of setting up the large, thick, tent-like shelter, a loud hiss followed by the sound of starting engines blasted from the loading bay of the Kellius. Undeniably interrupted, Riik, Kar, Bela and Kevin all paused their finishing touches to look for the source of the disturbance. After perceiving a round of cheers barely audible above the lithe roar of the engines within the bay, a hovering vehicle elegantly crept its way down the loading ramp. It looked exactly as depicted in the files Tarsil left him – an open-top central body with five seats sporting four hoverpods mounted on vertically pivoting arms arranged in a wide X shape. Two elongated rectangular thrusters at the rear provided thrust. The body itself looked like it was made of a light metal to reduce weight, and the chassis seemed frail. The entire nose, however – from the tip down to the undercarriage and the full width of the vehicle – seemed to be covered in some very hardy ablative armor. This probably served both the purposes of handling incoming fire and protecting against forward impacts, say, when running enemies over.

The driver, Arla, brought the Skimmer down to the base of the ramp and shakily settled it in the small open area between the Kellius and the camp tent. She brought the engines down to a sort of rest mode and the height it hovered at slowly fell until it rested on the green of the ground. She held her chin high, proud at their collective accomplishment.

"Very nice! What is it?" Kar wondered aloud.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the M-4 Skimmer," Tyr noted haughtily as he stepped down the ramp behind Arla. "It's a multi-terrain scout vehicle capable of impressive speed. It's cross-section and compact size are designed to minimize detection, and can sit up to five well armed soldiers. Unfortunately, it lacks armor except for the front and the hoverpods themselves and has no kinetic barriers or armaments to speak of. So no frontline drops."

"Impressive speed, you say?" Kevin asked, his tone dripping with morbid curiosity.

"Yes. Why?"

Kevin felt a wry smile wrinkle its way onto his face. He calmly walked up to the Skimmer as if to inspect it thoroughly, but instead of scanning it or taking a closer look, he jumped in on the driver's side and ended up shoving Arla into the passenger side. It took him barely a second to settle into his stolen seat, and only about fifteen to look over the controls and realize how simplistic they were. Ignoring all manner of protests and warnings, Kevin turned off the rest mode, kicked on the engines and sent the Skimmer into full throttle. Nearly setting the tent he just helped put up alight, Kevin sped off, leaving the others helpless to stop him.

Kevin broke out into a laughing fit typical of extreme exhilaration and thrills. Arla, who was clinging to her seat for dear life, was not so amused. She actually screamed in terror as Kevin pushed the Skimmer harder and faster across the soon ending open field. By the time Kevin was about to hit a small cliff up to another short field, Arla had managed to spin around to sit properly in her seat. Her eyes went visibly wide as the cliff rapidly approached. Before they hit it, however, Kevin pulled back on the steering wheel and the Skimmer's hoverpods launched it up well enough over the cliff and came down in the field on the other side. This did nothing to soothe Arla's frightened state, though.

The speedometer on the Skimmer's sole screen in the console between the two front seats marked them traveling at over six hundred kilometers per hour. There was a head-high curved pane of sturdy transparent material built onto the front of the vehicle that acted as a windshield and kept them from getting pulled out of their seats by the air resistance. Kevin noted this as rather convenient for a barebones scout vehicle.

"Kevin! Keelah! Stop stop stop stop! STOP!"

"Are you kidding me? I'm having way more fun than anyone should be allowed to have on an M-4! Haha! See that gorge there? You'd better hold onto something, quick!" He was practically toying with her. Whether or not she realized this was quickly drowned out by her. . . obvious displeasure.

"No no no no no no! _Eeyaaah!_"

It wasn't until they reached the far end of the field – when Kevin turned wide to come parallel to the steep range of mountains – that Arla calmed down enough to see that Kevin was not driving in any psychotic manner as it first seemed. As she watched the landmarks whiz by at high speed, her demeanor even changed to that of one finally able to enjoy a thrill ride. A few more wild turns and some close call jumps later, Arla was laughing along with Kevin, albeit while white-knuckling a holding bar in front of her.

After about fifteen straight minutes of high-speed romping about the region, Kevin finally brought the vehicle back to the basecamp real calm like. There, he and Arla found the rest of the team staring at them from the loading ramp of the Kellius, many of them with arms crossed. Kevin brought the Skimmer to the base of the ramp and shut it down. After it touched down, Kevin and Arla – still having a few chuckles – hopped out and approached their comrades.

Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, Kevin made his intents clear. "The M-4 Skimmer has passed my stress test. It needs a few tweaks in the handling department, but otherwise it should be good to go on missions with."

Tosh shrugged. "I. . . Guess that's one less thing to do later."

"Was that the real reason for your raucous joy ride on our brand new equipment?" Tyr condescendingly asked.

Kevin crossed his arms and leaned against one of the hoverpods. "If the Skimmer couldn't handle a full on stress test in the field as-is, what good would it be to us should we come under geth assault during an expedition? It has no kinetic barriers and next to nothing for armor, so we'll have to rely entirely on speed, maneuverability and whatever rifles are held in it at the time. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather utilize this asset sooner rather than later."

There was a pause in the conversation. "He _does_ have a point, Tyr," Arla noted.

Tyr put his hands up and shook his head. "Yeah yeah yeah." He then stepped close next to Kevin and turned only his head to talk. "Try not to rough up all our mission critical gear, alright? It's my job to make sure it all lasts long enough to benefit the Migrant Fleet." Without a pause, he turned around to face the entire team once more. "Let's get this basecamp prepped already. We're running out of daylight."

True enough, the sun was in the process of setting. Everyone broke from their loose conversational circle and focused on finishing the task highest on the priority list. Getting the actual research and perimeter observation stations could wait until tomorrow. For now, they had to finish securing the site and making sure the tent housing wouldn't be dislodged by a stray gust of wind. Just as the last rays of sunlight were clearing the rolling valley, the team finished all they could do and decided to call it a night. The next thing on their immediate to-do list? Eat.


	30. Chapter 29

_**Chapter 29**_

"There was this one time while I was perusing around Omega, just minding my own business," Kevin explained. "I have a usual dance partner in Afterlife. You guys know the place, right?"

Several heads bobbed.

"An asari that freakin' lives at the club. Anyways-"

"Ohh, an asari. Kevin, you chase the blue tail?" Bela razzed. There was a round of rising "Ohhs" around the table.

"Let me finish, Merni. So she spots me and comes over to say hi, right? Now apparently she was just dancing with a krogan. _A krogan!_ If you must know, they can't dance for crap."

"Have to agree with you there," Arla said with a chuckle. "Not surprising that she jumped at the chance to bail."

"This krogan was a younger one, I think. Not too bright, even by their standards. He got pissed that I stole his night's fun. Personally, I think he was just looking for a little after-party treat. Stepped up to me while the asari was grabbing my attention." He paused to murder his meal a bit, leaving time for others to heckle.

"Well put, Folner. _Grabbing _your _attention_," Riik sniped. A round of chuckles were had.

"Minds out of the gutter, guys. Geez. So in an attempt to assert himself as the dominant of the two of us, he gave me the death glare and pulled the asari back with him. She wasn't enthused."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure women love being fought over," Bela commented. "I do, anyway."

"ANYWHO. So I gather up a bit of dark energy and put both of his lumbering feet in a fairly strong positive mass effect field. In essence, increased their mass to make them each weigh about as much as a fully loaded fighter. Confused, he kept pushing and pulling on his legs to try to break free of the mysterious snare. As he did that, I randomly changed the mass effect field from a positive one to a negative one and back."

"I can see where this is going," Tyr said as he cheerfully leaned back in his seat.

"Results were, he would randomly kick nearby dancers hard enough to lift them clear off the ground. Needless to say, he quickly became the least liked individual in the entire club. Fights broke out and he got the boot by security. Probably wouldn't have known it was me if I didn't have such a huge smirk on my face."

"Well played, kid," Tyr admitted.

Kar paused sucking on his meal to make a mental note. "I guess biotics are good for more than just throwing things, huh?"

"Oh you have no idea, guys. _No_ idea!" Kevin finally got done mashing his meal to smithereens and began attempts at consuming it.

"I can just imagine some of the possibilities," Ralik stated with a sly smile.

"I've always wanted to kick around a lifted volus," Riik stated.

Tyr nodded. "It'd definitely make hauling inventory around easier."

"You guys are thinking small time," Arla said, pointing her tube of dinner around. "You could use biotics to win arena fights with a snap."

"You and your violent impulses," Kar denounced. "It'd do better for work around the shipyards in the flotilla. It would certainly save the host ship some energy."

"Weightless sex," Bela blurted out.

The room fell silent.

"What? It could work." She concluded by taking a confident chug of her meal.

Arla shook her head, likely smiling to herself. "Leave it to Bela to stop a conversation dead in its tracks."

"That takes skill, I'll have you know," she shot back cheerfully.

Kevin tapped the chin of his helmet in thought. "I _suppose_ it could work. Man, I'd be exhausted by the end, though. Keeping mass effect distortion fields active is tough work. I might keep that on my 'things to do before I'm dead' list."

"Aw, Kevin, you just need more stamina!" Bela responded without inhibition.

"Well, Bela, you sound like you might be able to help me with that," Kevin challenged.

Arla reached over the table and slapped at Kevin's helmet. "Don't encourage her!"

"Your room in two hours?" she goaded.

"It's a date."

Arla leaned in to slap Kevin a second time, but he prepared himself with an overly cartoonish martial arts stance.

"Relax Lieutenant, you know they're just joking around," Tyr said to reel her in. His tone depicted him being in a much better mood than he had all day. Arla sat back down and resumed her meal, but it wasn't without further comments from the peanut gallery.

"If we didn't know any better, we'd think that it actually bothered you," Riik said with an elbow to her side.

Arla turned her head to the side away from Riik. "It doesn't bother me. Why would it bother me?"

Bela leaned forward. "I didn't mean to break rank, Lieutenant. My apologies."

Arla turned to look at Bela. "What? Break rank how?"

"I mean, if you think you're better qualified to. . . you know, 'train Kevin's stamina', then by all means!"

Kevin forced back a chuckle and covered his visor with his free hand, facepalm style.

Arla recoiled. "You- You guys are being absurd! Cease and desist!"

The team broke out into laughter. "Gets her every time!" Arla huffed and shoved her food canister to her tube.

After the hilarity died down and the meals were being wrapped up, everyone mutually concluded that since there's an actual solar cycle to observe, they should try and sync up their sleep schedules with it. The Kellius's sensor system would provide overwatch during the night until the perimeter systems were in place. Later, as Kevin was heading to his room to turn in for the night, Arla caught up with him.

"Hey, I know this is going to sound a little awkward after what went down in the mess, but. . . do you want to take care of our training sessions first thing in the morning? That way we can focus on our mission for the remainder of the day."

Kevin paused to turn to look at Arla. "Awkward? Nah. I'm game anyways, though." He paused. "Yeah, no better way to start the day than some tech and some hand-to-hand before breakfast."

"So. . . I'll see you first thing in the morning, then?"

"Not _first thing_ in the morning. That's when I say good morning to my pillows."

"Yes. Right. I didn't mean-"

"You know, you're way too easy to get to when it comes to insinuations about affection."

"Why does everyone think that?"

"It's like Bela and height jokes. Get some sleep, Lieutenant, before you talk yourself into a corner."

"I- Right. Good night."

"Likewise." With that, Kevin headed to bed and fell asleep without much trouble.

The next morning, he was woken up by a blinding beam of light shining onto his face. The sun was at the perfect angle to shine in through one of the side viewports and right onto his face. At least he wouldn't have to be woken up by someone screaming into his ear over the comms. He sat up and focused on waking up for the next few minutes. He angled his head towards the sun so that he could feel the warmth of its rays on his face. To his dismay, the visor blocked thermal energy out. He could be blinded by the sun, but he couldn't take advantage of the natural heat given off by its energies. How disappointing. After he worked the fuzziness out of his mind, he up and left the master quarters.

Outside, he could hear a conglomeration of voices traveling down the hall. It sounded as though the rest of the team had just gotten up and was heading to the mess hall for breakfast. Instead of joining them, though, he turned right and headed downstairs and into engineering. He was surprised to find that Arla was not there waiting impatiently for him like he had expected. Figuring that he had just beat her there, he took a seat at the workbench and waited. And waited. It was little over an hour before Kevin gave up and left engineering. He sought out the crew quarters, aiming to inquire to one of his shipmates of her whereabouts. He didn't feel like listening to Terra's pseudo-realistic sounding voice this early in the morning.

He hit the panel on the door and it swooshed open. Inside, the room was empty – well, almost empty. There was a certain quarian who was supposed to be in engineering sleeping on one of the bunks. Seeing this as an opportunity to have a bit of fun, Kevin slunk into the room, leaving the door to close on its own. He silently stepped over to the bunk she lay face up in and brought his visor within a centimeter of hers.

"You're late," he said in a strong, but controlled tone.

Within the same instant, Arla's lavender eyes snapped open wide, and her body shook from the shock of being startled out of her sleep by a face and accompanying voice suddenly right at her nose. Her limbs reacted in a reflexive manner and exploded outward, leading one of her strong knees right to Kevin's unprepared groin. His suit absorbed the brunt of the impact, but it was no hardsuit; it could only do so much against the kinetic force introduced to it. Kevin fell to the ground, eyes squashed shut and hands automatically covering his injured bits.

"Wha- Kevin? You bosh'tet! You scared the piss out of me!" It took her a moment to realize why Kevin was now on the floor, squealing in pain ever so slightly. "Oh, Keelah. I'm sorry!" She tried to help him up, to which he refused. He didn't want to move right now. Arla continued to stand nearby, uncomfortably apologetic, while she waited for him to get up from his current state.

After a few awkward minutes, Kevin gathered himself together enough to stand. His stance was tender and his pride, badly damaged. "That's alright," he forced out, his voice normal but strained. "I wasn't using them anyways." All his hand-to-hand skill meant nothing in that moment. If only his ego could be as crushed as his little boys felt just then.

"You startle people out of their sleep often?" Arla sarcastically asked.

"Only when I'm driving a blade through their throat. I'm not used to people reacting like that. Or at all, for that matter."

"I can see that," Arla said through a chuckle.

"That's right, have a laugh at my expense. I'll just make it up come time for your training." Kevin straightened up and they slowly made their way out into the hall. He started walking bow-legged, but he eventually straightened that out too. "Speaking of training, what are we learning today, Ms. Tavval?"

"Advanced suit functions. I expect that you'll want to take that suit off sooner or later, or at least know how to prep it to get to that point."

"Looks like I won't be bugging Tosh with that now."

"I doubt you could even if you wanted to. He and Ralik are probably going to spending weeks on end with their faces stuffed in the data we compile about this planet."

". . . True enough."

Once in engineering, they began the training session. Kevin learned a lot of the technical details about a quarian envirosuit along with a number of processes for things like taking the suit off, removing the visor, removing and refilling the waste collection system, clamping off areas to prevent whole-suit breaches and the program management package. He was surprised at how modular the suit's operating system was – individual elements, such as the software that monitors vitals and software that checks food for foreign amino acids and contaminants can each be installed, removed, disabled, or modified without risking the integrity of the overall system. Arla explained that this was because individual parts may need upgrading, updating or hardware swaps, and they couldn't risk having their suit's software fail. They sort of need it to live.

Unlike the other tech training sessions, this one was mostly business and little idle talk. Even after two hours, Kevin was still learning new things he could do with the suit. Some of it was rendered useless as far as he knew because Tosh had to disable the related core systems for Kevin's safety. He didn't say anything to Arla so that he could learn them anyway. He might be able to use them one day.

Nearly two and a half hours into the lesson, Kevin and Arla decided that the customization of the envirosuit's many, many menus was a good place to stop. They had a brief discussion over whether or not to have breakfast before combat training, and in the end they decided to go without so that they'd be lighter on their feet. Within five minutes of ending their tech lesson, they were up in the entertainment room, removing their armor. This time, they removed their armor together; Kevin had finally acclimated to the configuration of the armor and no longer stumbled embarrassingly when removing or installing it.

Kevin had just decided, as they were piling their armor in a corner, that he'd take a hint from that nightmarish dream he had not too long ago. He would utilize the club functions of the lights in the room to create an absurd amount of visual noise. The difference was that he would have loud music playing in addition to the lights – mostly for their enjoyment. When Arla saw him heading for the podium on the side of the room, she simply _had_ to comment.

"Uh, Kevin? I'm down here. We can't train if you keep running away."

"Hold on. I had a dream about this once," he speedily explained as he worked feverishly on the controls.

"You had a dream about us?" She almost sounded surprised. Flattered, even. "A dream about us fighting?"

"Yes. Well, more a nightmare. I. . . Don't really want to get into it."

Arla tilted her head. It was too late for Kevin: her curiosity had been piqued. "Oh, a nightmare about us? Now _that_ is interesting. What happened? Were we in danger?" She suddenly had the demeanor of a schoolgirl who had just sparked a conversation about her favorite subject.

"It was. . . Situational? I don't know. I said I don't want to get into it."

"Or maybe it was just me in danger, and you weren't able to save me. Am I getting warm?"

"I said I don't-"

"I just want to find out what makes you squirm, Folner."

"That's kind of creepy."

Arla walked up to the base of the podium and leaned forward against the smooth wall of it, using her elbows to hold her weight. She placed her head between her hands while looking up at Kevin, slowly swaying her protruding backside back and forth like an innocent little girl simply waiting for a story.

Kevin let loose an exasperated sigh. "Alright. You want to hear how it went?"

Arla didn't let up on her pose. She simply nodded.

"Okay, it went like this. You and I were here in the entertainment room about to have a duel, when-"

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, flash, and change color in sequences typical of dimly lit clubs. Loud, pounding music completely drowned out Kevin's explanation, though he nonchalantly continued anyways. Arla couldn't hear a word of it, and she quickly inferred that this was Kevin's plan to 'not get into it'. She stood up straight and gave Kevin an angst-fueled shake of the head, but in the end she admitted defeat. . . She'd pester him later.

When Kevin stepped down from the podium, she walked over and yelled into his ear to overpower the pulsing audio ambience. "What is all this for?"

Kevin positioned his head likewise and yelled back, "Visual noise! I figured we'd both learn something today! Let's see how difficult it is to spar with this fancy light show running!" Arla nodded, indicating she understood what he was getting at. They returned to the center of the room and began their training.

Unfortunately, the task was not quite as easy to adapt to as it was in his dream. Instead of a perfectly matched pair dodging and deflecting every blow, they both landed several solid hits on each other in a matter of minutes. Kevin quickly found out that they would both walk away from this one heavily bruised. Normally this wasn't an issue since they had stockpiles of medigel, but his being aware of their inability to return to the galaxy at large meant that rationing was going to become a priority very, very soon. He wondered if Arla knew yet.

His distracted thought cost him another chop to the outside of his right thigh. The impact caused his leg to collapse on the spot, but he used this to his advantage. He intentionally let gravity take him down and he performed a quick leg sweep to trip her up. Typically this was easily seen and dodged, but the added distractions of the music and lights kept her from reacting properly. The quarian fell onto her side with a comically inaudible thud, using her arms to absorb a portion of the impact. Kevin rolled over to immediately pin her arms. If he could succeed in pinning her down, he decided he would end the visual chaos so they might train for at least one hour without distraction.

And succeed he did. With his hands on her wrists, she barely did much to struggle free. Instead, she lifted her head up as high as she could towards his to communicate. "This is too hard, Kevin! I can't track your movements much at all! I feel like I've just lost everything you've taught me!"

"It's a learning experience for us both, Arla!" Kevin rolled off of his trainee, hoping that there wasn't another body in the doorway. To his relief, there wasn't. He promptly headed up the podium and shut down the music and lights, bringing back that calm, neutral gray-white of normal ambient lighting.

"Keelah, that was disgraceful. I feel like I'm back at the Neema again, training under Yolis again, and getting beat at every turn _again_." She placed a hand over her visor as an expression of mental weariness.

"I don't think you realize just how well you did back there."

"Here we go. The 'optimistic review after a failure' speech."

"Just stop and think about it for a moment. You not only managed to land hits on me, but dodged, blocked or deflected most of mine. Granted I landed hits on you, but that was a given before we started. Pardon the egotistical tone. In fact, I think we ran about even on that match."

"So. . . What does this mean?" Arla asked, still looking for the positive point to all this.

Kevin stepped down to Arla from the podium. "You were fighting dynamically, not from memorized approaches. You wouldn't have had the time to figure out what I was doing during all that chaos _and_ execute a memorized set of moves quick enough for me to take a hit. Key words were: fighting and dynamically. You were doing on instinct what I've been trying to teach you this whole time."

Kevin could swear he saw her face lighten up a bit when she tilted her head up to that revelation. "You know, Kevin, now that I think about it, you're right. I don't remember actively thinking about what move set I was going to try. I didn't have the chance because I was way too focused on trying to follow your moves."

"Bingo. Lesson one is complete. The perfection of everything you learned there comes from excessive practice at this point."

Arla's head fell forward and down. "Lesson _one_? How many lessons are there?"

Kevin looked up to the ceiling in thought. "Uh, I don't know. Two, I guess. Maybe three. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. . ." He saw her relax a bit in response. Kevin meandered over to the center of the room, arms crossed. "Well, I'd say we still have an hour or so before anyone actually expects to do something. We can work on perfecting that smooth and supple form of yours, if you want."

Arla stared at him accusingly.

Kevin jumped to correcting himself, "You know I meant your fighting form, not your body. I'll have no student-teacher relations of that kind until you can beat me in the ring!" He included a waving finger for added cheesiness.

Arla shrugged. "Lack of scandals makes for a boring drama, Folner."

"I prefer action."

She stared at him again with those lavender, wide, 'I can't believe you just said that' eyes.

"Action _vids_, Arla_. _Action _vids_. With shooting, and war and not interspecies relationships going too far."

Arla slowly leaned in and cupped a hand around the small light at her chin. "You're way too easy to get to when it comes to insinuations about affection."

Kevin paused with a pointed finger held aloft in her general direction. "I. . . Wow. Beaten at my own game. That _sucks_."

Arla held her head high in victory and trotted off towards the door. She wasn't even going to let him duel it out of her. Kevin sighed and trudged his way after her. After a quick breakfast, they headed outside to catch up with the rest of the team. As expected, everyone was already working on the research camp. The Skimmer, surprisingly, was still where Kevin had left it.

Bela was he first to notice them walk down the loading ramp. "Hey, they're finally done making out. Can we get to the good stuff now?"

Kevin was quick to return the snarky welcome. "Bela, that's because I had to work out some 'frustrations' since you stood me up. All night I waited for you and you didn't even so much as knock on my door. And here I thought I was going to learn from a master."

"I was. . . Busy!" the short one shot back. "Just making sure my skills were up to snuff. It's not me who's in desperate need of personal counseling."

"Hey, it was your idea to begin with!"

Ralik interjected here, "I think the human expression 'you two fight like a married couple' applies here, yes?" It worked surprisingly well; both Bela and Kevin shut up on the spot.

Tyr shook his head. Kevin was fitting in a bit _too_ well. "Right, then. Onto the _important_ matters. The basecamp is nearly complete, which means it's time to start preparing some field research missions. Last night, Arla, Tosh, Ralik and I briefly discussed the type of research we should be conducting during this phase of our mission."

Arla stepped forward. "We've broken that up into four branches, each being focused on by four two-man teams. The branches are: reconnaissance, which will focus on investigation and mapping of the region; sample collection, which will focus on acquiring all manner of organic and non-organic samples from the planet for study; perimeter defense and observation, which will focus on making sure no geth ruin our day; and finally, research, which will focus on the actual scientific study and compilation of data from the other branches into usable results."

"Have the teams been made up?" Ralik asked.

"We didn't make teams for this," Tyr explained. "I have a hunch that everybody's own preference will work this out on its own. Any volunteers for the varying branches?"

"I'll take recon," Kevin enthusiastically spat out.

"Research," Ralik and Tosh simultaneously announced. They looked at each other, rather unsurprised.

"I suppose I'll run some defense," Bela volunteered.

Riik jumped in just after Bela finished. "I'll work with Bela on this one. She'll _need_ me for this." Bela met that comment with a playful backhand to the side of Riik's head.

"I'll take recon as well," Arla stated. "My sniper skills will more than likely come in handy if we run into hostiles."

"I can show you the wooooorld~." Kevin began to sing to Arla. Her reaction was nearly identical to Bela's.

Tyr nodded. "That leaves Welkas and I for sample collection." Tyr peered at Kar who nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright, we all know our objectives. I want everyone to be armed at all times, _especially_ you two on recon. We certainly won't want any surprises from the geth to go unanswered. Are we all clear? Good. Let's get to work."

The team broke and headed back inside to gather up weapons and thermal clips before heading out on their missions. After that was taken care of, each team separated to go take care of whatever their first matter of business was. For Kevin and Arla, that was getting to the Skimmer and getting it powered up. Outside the cargo bay at the bottom of the loading ramp, Kevin greedily jumped into the driver's seat of the hovercraft and turned the machine on. Just as the hoverpods kicked on and began to lift the vehicle off of the ground, Arla jumped up into the driver's seat much the way Kevin did to her the day before. Kevin was subsequently shoved into the passenger seat.

"My turn to drive," Arla hollered over the roar of the engines.

"Fine!" Kevin said, taking his immediate defeat in some manner of stride.

Arla brought the Skimmer to full readiness and she punched down on the throttle. The Skimmer then lit up two discrete thrusters that were pointed forwards, located on the bottom left and right edges of the chassis, and the vehicle shot backwards a good thirty meters before coming to an abrupt stop. Luckily, it missed the tent.

"Oops," the driver embarrassingly muttered before setting the thrust in the proper direction.

Kevin, however, was plastered on the dashboard due to being completely unprepared for the ferocity of the directional momentum. "'Oops'? What do you mean 'Oops'?"

Ignoring Kevin's rhetorical question, Arla pushed down on the throttle again and the Skimmer sped off away from the basecamp.

Over the course of the next several days, each team went about whatever routine they established for themselves. For Kevin and Arla, this consisted of tech and combat training sessions first thing in the morning, breakfast, and then a long trip in the Skimmer for the remainder of the day. The trips were long, exploratory journeys to previously unmapped locations surrounding the leafy valley the Kellius sat in. They started bringing lunches and even dinners with them in order to maximize the time they could stay out, and thus maximize their scouting range. They needed to be as efficient as possible with their time, because time was the major limiting factor in their particular branch of the research.

The exploration was focused west and south of the landing site. To the north and east was the long, sharp, and hazardous mountain range that separated them from the bulk of the geth conglomeration. Kevin was confident that he could navigate through it using the Skimmer to hover over general hazards. Additionally, he could utilize the short-lived 'jump' feature, which was nothing more than an overpowered burst of power to the hoverpods. The problem was, taking such a trip was time consuming, and they couldn't afford to waste time in the mountains while there were other, more easily accessible regions to map.

Each time "Team Skimmer" left, they came back a little later at the end of the trip. It got to the point where they were returning to the basecamp after the sun had set and the rest of the team had already retired into the Kellius. This was a problem for Tosh and Ralik, because they needed to link up their omni-tools with the Skimmer's interface in order to sync up with the newest geographical data, and they were not looking forward to staying up later than they had to in order to accommodate the two trip junkies.

Kevin and Arla blamed this on the planet's most noticeable feature: the ever-frequent isolated lightning storms. Tosh explained that the planet's strangely powerful magnetosphere was somehow involved, but exactly how these storms formed so frequently in such stable atmospheric conditions was beyond his understanding. Even more interesting, the bolts of lightning were always ground-to-cloud, not cloud-to-ground. These 'upside-down' lightning bolts were a beautiful thing to behold, but were every bit as dangerous as normal lightning. Every time a storm rolled in, Kevin and Arla explained, they had to shut down the Skimmer somewhere low and not exposed to the sky in order to prevent their vehicle from getting fried by the large number of bolts in the thirty minute storms. The storms also included the usual elements typical of any garden world thunderstorm like high winds, heavy rain and sometimes hail.

While all of this was true, it wasn't the entire truth. As expected, the planet's strong magnetosphere was constantly at work shunning the powerful radiation from the local star. After the sun set, the sky was usually ablaze with an amalgam of dancing colors. The planet had geomagnetic storms at extremely low latitudes, and it almost seemed that they could see the planet's aurora borealis wherever they went. Sometimes they would find a nice high spot and shut the Skimmer down for a few minutes just to take in the awe-inspiring vistas as they got bathed in a sweeping spectrum of color. It was far more interesting than watching the Kellius discharge high in the atmosphere of some unnamed planet.

Occasionally, the duo would come across peculiar geographic formations during their trips. The first example they found was a solitary mountain at the extreme western end of the range that passed north of the research headquarters. The top third of the formation was mind bogglingly cylindric. The bottom two thirds of the mountain looked as though the land was flowing like water from the direction of the range, had splashed up against it and engulfed around it, and had frozen in time before the backside could settle into the gradual slope of a typical mountains. For such oddities, Kevin and Arla performed extensive scans of the formation themselves so that Tosh and Ralik would have a complete picture of whatever it was. Unfortunately, the picture was as incomplete as the scans from the Kellius in that the surface was easily captured, but anything further than a certain depth down was simply blank. Kevin thought about trying to get a look inside the 'mountain', but the rocky crags of the top third were sheer cliffs. The Skimmer couldn't jump _that_ high.

When it got to the point that Kevin and Arla couldn't make it back before dark _without_ making any stops, they decided to segment the research there. They'd look at other objectives to see what else needed to be done. They made that decision on their eighth day on reconnaissance. That night when they finally got back, they saw Ralik impatiently sitting on the loading ramp while playing with some handheld tools. He looked up in time to see them approach, probably sporting a foul gaze behind that helmet of his. Arla carefully drove the Skimmer into the Kellius's cargo bay, which had been serving as the unofficial garage for the past week. After the vehicle was shut down, Ralik then decided to get up and approach them.

"I don't even want to know what you two could possibly be doing out there that causes you to take this long to get back."

"I already explained this to you, Ralik," Kevin said as he hopped down to the floor. "We're running out of unmapped areas that we can reach via Skimmer. Just sync up and get your cranky face to bed."

"Have you even looked over the map data yet?" Arla asked, irritated.

Ralik walked up to the Skimmer and synced his omni-tool to the VI within. "Erm. No. No we haven't. There's just way too much data to process. Your new map data is added to our virtual region map and that's about the long and short of it. Tosh and I have been bogged down trying to figure out this planet's exhaustingly expansive array of peculiarities."

"So. . . You're slacking off," Kevin drolly stated with a half-hearted accusatory point. Arla tosses in a nod for emphasis.

Ralik had to pause his work to look up at the two. "Slacking off? What. . . nerve. We're just. . . Well, we're enamored with the new challenges this planet presents." He attempted to finish the statement strong and with pride, but it still sounded like an excuse used to dodge the issue.

"Good Lord. Whatever, Ralik. Let me know when you're ready to handle the _real_ objectives. You know, the ones we came for in the first place." The way that Kevin worded it carried a different meaning for Ralik than it did for Arla. To Ralik, it was more of a spark of nostalgia back to the moment they left the Citadel after that talk with Tarsil.

Ralik finished up his work with the Skimmer and sighed. "If it will help you sleep at night, Kevin, I will endeavor to focus on the mission from this point forward."

Kevin smiled at his miniscule, but fulfilling, victory and he began walking towards the airlocked stairwell. "See? That wasn't so hard. Now if you're done, call it a night with the rest of us."

"Yes, yes, yes. As you wish, _your majesty_."

"Will you two get a room?" Arla quipped.

Kevin and Ralik stared at each other for a moment and shook their heads before continuing upstairs. On their way up, Kevin mentioned grabbing a bite to eat before bed, since he and Arla hadn't so much as snacked for hours. Ralik decided to join them, if not to at least chat a bit about random things. Just before they stepped into the mess hall, however, they heard fervent conversation in the briefing room at the end of the hall. Curious, the trio put their meal on hold and headed into the briefing room themselves to see what the commotion was about. Inside, they found Riik, Bela and Tyr standing around the briefing table with a hologram active centered between them. The hologram looked to be an image of the star system they were in with an amalgam of lines both interlacing throughout it as well as shooting out and away in one defined direction. The three around the table barely gave the trio of newcomers a glance as they debated.

Riik was currently the one explaining something. "No. See these lines here? Those head outside the solar system. Way out beyond our range." He swung his hand along the path of the lines shooting off to the edge of the hologram.

"There's a lot of noise in here," Arla stated, indicating that the ranking officer wanted to be briefed on what was going on.

Bela took the initiative here. "Perimeter security has been tight – and _boring_. Tosh helped me adjust the Kellius's scanners to filter out local interference caused by the magnetosphere and the star. Riik and I, on the other hand, have been using the scanners to monitor off-world geth activity and movement during quiet hours. These lines plot out various ship movements throughout the solar system."

"You'll notice," Riik explained, "that while the majority of the activity is within the solar system, there is definitely some extra-system activity."

"Exploring, maybe?" Ralik asked with a shrug.

"We considered that, actually," Bela replied. "This doesn't seem to fit that behavioral profile, though, because they all head off in the same direction every time. There must be a destination of some kind."

"Why is it that whenever we discover something new about the geth, it sounds like bad news?" Arla asked.

"Probably because it usually is," Kevin said with a chuckle.

"Does this information change anything?" Arla wondered aloud.

"I was just thinking the same thing, Lieutenant," Tyr concurred. "I'm leaning towards 'yes'."

Riik extended his arms from their usual crossed position to lean on the table. "If there's something out there the geth decided was worth their collective attention, it is in our best interest to find out what it is _immediately_. We need to know if it could be a potential threat to future operations."

Arla nodded. "Makes sense. Do we have a timeframe?"

"Depends on whether or not we're going to pack everything up," Bela commented.

"Screw that," Kevin interjected. "I'd much rather we had someone stay here and keep an eye on the place."

"I take it that means we have no automated defenses?" Ralik asked.

Bela shrugged. "The Migrant Fleet can't give us everything."

"Guess that's one thing Tarsil forgot to send with us," Kevin drolly stated.

"We can always lock it down," Tyr suggested. "We have some heavy duty cables and locks. We might have enough to encompass the tent."

"That won't stop the geth if they're curious enough," Arla replied, "but we don't know what we'll find. We can't risk heading out there a man short, and we can't waste all that time packing everything up. We may have to deal with a simple lockdown. This has taken top priority."

Kevin crossed his arms. "Tomorrow, then?"

Tyr nodded and leaned on the table the same way Riik was. "Rest well tonight and get a good breakfast in tomorrow. We'll lock down the camp as best we can then head out to track the geth to whatever their destination is beyond the edges of the system. Don't forget your weapons. Votis, will you relay this new intel to Rolush and Welkas?"

"Yessir," Riik said with a nod.

Arla dismissed everyone and they all left the room. Kevin, however, remained for a minute or so staring intently at the hologram hovering over the table. Something concerned him about wherever the geth were heading. It was that same gut feeling he had when they first learned about the valesh'saat waiting outside the Melkanis relay. He wasn't ready to lose another squadmember. He let out a long, slow breath and shut off the holographic representation of the solar system. He left the room to catch up with Arla and Ralik before any more unwanted thoughts could invade his mind.


	31. Chapter 30

_**Chapter 30**_

The day following the discovery of the extra-system geth activity, Kevin got up a bit earlier than usual so that he and Arla could still get their training in before this new priority had to be taken care of. Despite this, they still had to shorten each session a bit to get it all done before the work began. They had short conversations about the differences between human and quarian culture, and they tried their hand at the visual chaos training once more. They finalized the day's trainings the usual way: with a hearty breakfast and chuckle-worthy story or two.

When they headed outside to start working, they found that only Tyr had started to gather the metal cables and huge locks. He looked up at the oncoming duo and waved them over to help. Each of those locks were heavy enough to require all of one's strength to move it, and the cables were not easily moved, either.

"About time _someone_ finished with their breakfast. Those kids need to get out of the mess and out here doing something important."

Kevin and Arla looked at each other, confused. "There wasn't anyone in there when we ate a few minutes ago," Arla explained.

Tyr set the lock he was carrying down with a heavy exasperated sigh and activated his comms. "Rise and shine!" he yelled, causing Kevin and Arla to visibly wince. "We've got mission critical objectives to complete! The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to sleeping in every day like a bunch of jobless exiles!" He paused for a minute before picking up his lock resuming his trek to the tent. "Can you two start getting the cable unraveled? Right now you're the only ones being useful, and I can't do this alone."

They nodded and quickly set to work. As expected, the thick, twisted metal cable was incredibly heavy and difficult to move, especially once it was all removed from the loading bay. The two struggled to drag the entire coiled bundle to the basecamp, and they only made it about half way when Ralik and Riik joined them. With their help, they were able to finish the trip to the tent and unravel it for use. To their surprise, there was enough to encircle the entire basecamp not just once, but twice. They decided to do just that and they ran the cable tightly around the outside of the tent. They crossed the cable over itself on opposite sides of the camp to create a pair of large X's. Two locks secured the ends of the cable to industrial strength stakes in the ground and two more secured the cables together where they crossed over each other to complete the lockdown.

By this point, everybody who wasn't already outside was walking down the loading ramp to find something to do. With the lockdown already complete, they all turned around and headed back inside after a condescending glare from the chief. After a few final checks and inspections, the working crew followed the others back inside to get the mission under way. The loading ramp closed up behind them and everyone headed to the briefing room for a rundown of the mission.

Arla gestured for Tyr to take the lead on this. He was the strategist after all, and was a lot better at handing out instructions than she. "Alright team, listen up. This is an investigation mission. We need to first figure out where the geth are headed, and since FTL will likely be involved, simply following a ship to the destination won't cut it. We need to locate a geth ship heading out of the system and find a way to track it. Any suggestions?"

"Tracking bug," Riik suggested as if the answer was obvious.

Kevin leaned in. "This isn't a scout ship, Ralik. There's no bugs or probes on board."

"Hold on," Tosh said. "We might. The Admiralty Board sent with us some small beacons. They were normally used to broadcast a homing signal to the flotilla so that they could track high value asteroids that were rich in metals and minerals. I could modify it to send suppressed signals back to the Kellius to show us where they stop."

Tyr nodded with satisfaction. "Good. How do we get it attached to a ship?"

"It can be clamped on or use magnetic pull. The magnetic approach will probably be the optimal choice here, as it doesn't risk alerting the ship that something has been attached."

"That's the great thing about a geth," Kevin interjected. "Unless it's taking damage, it can't feel a freakin' thing."

Tosh continued. "The question is, how do we get it to the ship? Without any probe bays to launch it from, this might prove difficult."

"Yes, that will be a problem," Tyr mumbled.

Again, Ralik lit up and jumped in. "Kevin can do it."

"I can do _what_?" the human barked.

"I saw your easy handling of the zero-gravity environment during the Cerberus attack, Kevin. You can hand-deliver the bug to the back of a geth ship and return to the loading bay."

Kevin was less than ecstatic. "What! Are you insane? If I didn't know any better – and I probably don't – I'd say you were trying to get rid of me."

"It _is_ a bit of a stretch," Arla mused. "Seeing as how Kevin _obviously_ can't do it."

"It may be a stretch, but it's the only shot we have," Tyr noted. All eyes settled on Kevin, practically goading him into taking the job.

"Can't we, you know, _throw_ it at a geth ship or something?" It was an absurd suggestion and Kevin knew that. Such a risk of odds wasn't going to cut it. Fourteen staring eyes silently reminded him of that. "I just have my reservations about tap-dancing on the back of a geth ship so I can give him a present."

"Come now, Folner, we wouldn't ask this of you if we didn't think you could handle it," Riik said. Kevin had a hard time figuring out if that was sarcastic or not.

Bela leaned over to nuzzle Kevin's shoulder with her helmet. "Yeah, there's nothing sexier than a man risking life and limb to soar through open space to plant a tracking bug on the back of a filthy synthetic ship!"

"Thanks, Bela. I feel that much more masculine now," Kevin sarcastically added. He paused with a sigh and shook his head. "Okay. I'll do it. Just. . . Make sure it isn't moving and that you catch me on the way back, alright?"

"Do you want me to let Ralik fly?" Kar amusingly asked.

"I'm so doomed," Kevin said as he banged knuckles against his visor.

"Focus, team," Tyr said, cutting their comical conversation short. "The only matter remaining is how to locate a ship that will leave the system. Thoughts?"

"I've been analyzing the sensor data that Bela and Riik have collected while you all slept. It seems the ones leaving the system are primarily mining vessels after they've stopped at four to six asteroids. As long as we're still tracking their movements-"

"We are," Bela interrupted.

Ralik stared at her for a few seconds as if waiting for her to say something else before continuing. "-We can easily pick one out that would be a good candidate."

"Excellent. Tosh, how soon can you have the tracker ready?" Arla asked.

"Give me about twenty minutes, tops," he replied.

"Then we'll head out now," Tyr concluded. "Welkas, after we get out of range of the geth here, refrain from using the IES3 until it is absolutely necessary. We don't know how long we'll need to drift about amongst the geth." Kar nodded in acknowledgment of his orders. "Let's get to it."

Everyone broke from the table to head to where they were most needed. Tosh had Kevin follow him down to the cargo bay so that the quarian could give him a quick overview of the device. Kevin at least needed to know how to turn it on and how to get it to stick to the geth ship's hull. Tosh explained these things as he worked on modifying the beacon, which was an object that looked like a smooth chrome disc with a small, similarly textured radio dish perpendicularly stuck to the top. Its diameter was as large as Kevin's torso from shoulder to shoulder, and the top of the dish barely reached knee-high. The four clamps, which were normally equidistant from each other every quarter of the way around the edge, had been removed. There were hardly any other physical features except for a small row of five buttons under the lip of the disc. Tosh only explained that the first one activated the beacon and the last one activated the magnet.

After all this information was divulged, Kevin hauled the surprisingly lightweight device to the closed loading ramp in preparation. Tosh headed upstairs to sit in front of a terminal, leaving Kevin to wait alone. By now, the team upstairs was already working on finding a suitable target for their tracking bug, and it wasn't long before Ralik identified a mining vessel that had already been to four other asteroids and was now settling on a fifth.

_"Kevin, standby,"_ Kar said over the comms. _"We're making our approach now."_

"How much distance am I going to have to close, Kar?" he asked.

_"That will depend on the exact conditions surrounding the vessel. I'll get in as close as I can, but I don't want to risk giving it a reason to move or look for us._

That wasn't exactly what Kevin wanted to hear, but it made logical sense. "As long as I can see my target, I'll get there." He bounced in place trying to calm his nerves. Jumping out into open space wasn't exactly a safe plan, and doing so in the middle of an asteroid belt begged for disaster.

A few anxiety-filled minutes later, Kevin heard someone pop into the room. He turned around to see who came to visit and was mildly surprised to see Arla striding towards him. "Hi. Err, shouldn't you be up with the rest of the team?" he asked.

"Someone needs to be down here to make sure that you don't kill yourself on the way out."

"I don't think that's going to help me while I'm in open space standing on the back of a geth ship and dodging asteroid collisions."

"I know. . . But just think of how much worse it would be if you tripped into space."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better? Really?" Kevin was having trouble keeping his nerves in check. This was about to be the single most dangerous thing he's ever willingly done in his life, and the more he thought about it, the more dug into his mind.

Arla stepped in close and tugged on several pieces of Kevin's armor to be sure it was snug. "Yes, because I'm here to make sure you _don't_ do that. Now get ready, we're going to be in position soon."

"Hnngh," Kevin grunted, further expressing his unease with the situation. "Why did I agree to this? Stupid, stupid."

_"We're in position,"_ Kar announced. _"I'll be cutting the gravity well so that you can get the most out of your launch."_

Like clockwork, the artificial gravity shut down and anything in the bay not clamped down began to lift ever so slightly. Kevin's vision narrowed for a brief moment as the sudden lack of gravity forced his body to adjust how it pumped his blood. Kevin grabbed the beacon, hoisted it to chest height, and effortlessly hauled it over to the very base of the shut loading ramp. The ramp opened a sliver, but it did not go any further. Kevin decided to address the issue.

"Uh, Kar? I think there's something wrong with the loading ramp. It only opened a tiny bit."

_"That's no malfunction, Kevin,"_ Tyr stated.

"Come again?"

_"The inside of the cargo bay can't be hidden by our stealth for obvious reasons, so we can't open it much without giving away our location."_

"That's great. I haven't even left yet and I'm already improvising." Kevin shook his head and growled to get himself into a more focused state of mind. It helped. . . A little.

"Here, I'll toss it up to you," Arla calmly offered. She grabbed the beacon from Kevin's hands and flicked her hood-covered head up towards the ceiling. "See? I'm already helping you."

"It's not helping this 'I'm going to get spaced' feeling." Kevin pushed with his legs and headed for the ceiling. There were rails on either side of the bay near ceiling height that the cargo loading arms ran across and he grabbed onto one to steady his movement. From here, he could launch himself over to the lip of the loading ramp and get this mission under way. Shortly after he made his way up, the beacon followed his path, tossed by Arla who followed close. He grabbed the beacon with one hand as it came up.

"Do you want me to equip you with a float tube?" she joked as she grabbed ahold of the rail.

"What the crap is a 'float tube'? I don't think that translated correctly." He shimmied along with the beacon until he ran out of rail, at which point he handed the beacon off to Arla again so he could make the short flight to the lip of the loading ramp where he could peek his head out and get a good look at his target.

"A float tube," she explained as she shimmied along, "is a piece of equipment you latch onto your suit. It provides thrust in a number of directions to help you move in zero gravity. It's normally used by Migrant Fleet dock mechanics and engineers. It's also huge and ungainly."

"I'll pass. I don't think we have one anyways." A light push on the end of the rail was all he needed to reach the sliver of open space between the loading ramp and the hull. Arla tossed him the beacon and he lightly wedged it into a corner so it would stay in place while he looked out into space.

His target was straight ahead, but it wasn't nearly as close as he'd hoped. He estimated that the geth ship directly ahead of him was at least one hundred and fifty meters and was dug into a small indent in the asteroid it was working on. The way it mined reminded him of an insect eating a meal, only it wasn't actively sitting on the rock and its mandibles were replaced by mining lasers and claws. The path to it was direct and currently empty, but it was obvious it wasn't going to stay that way. Small asteroids occasionally flew by, sometimes colliding with each other and sometimes shattering against the larger rocks. Additionally, the geth ship wasn't alone. In the other large asteroids surrounding the path to his target, other geth ships were hard at work gathering metals and other resources. As long as they didn't move and he didn't attract their attention, though, they shouldn't be a problem.

Kevin drew in a deep breath. He crawled through the slim opening and out into open space to prep himself for the launch. Everything seemed to fall completely silent just then. On the ship, he could still hear or feel the slight hum of the engine even when there were no other sounds to be heard. Out here in open space, this level of absolute silence was downright terrifying. He had conditioned himself over the years to hear everything he could, and now that there literally was nothing to hear, his body didn't know how to handle it.

Behind him, Arla hopped over to the lip and pulled the beacon from the wedge. "Hey. . ." she called to him as she slipped the beacon through. Kevin didn't respond, but she knew he was listening. "No heroics, okay? Just do what you need to do and come back to. . . Just come back, that's an order."

Kevin turned his head with a smirk buried under his visor and looked her straight in the eye. "If I die, I'll just come back to haunt you." He'd probably have winked if he thought she could see it.

Arla's head slid back in shock. Though her face was hidden, her upper body language betrayed the silence and was easy for Kevin to read. First there was fluttery bashfulness where she turned her head away followed by a sudden and stiffening dread that forced her to look anywhere but at him. Finally she looked back to Kevin just in time to see him take a deep breath and kick away from the Kellius. Just after he left the small opening shut, cutting off her limited view of him.

Kevin's launch was quick, but it was by no means as spontaneous as his usual dealings in life. He looked around as best he could for a few seconds to spy any threatening asteroids. Seeing none, he felt that now was as good a time as any to make his move and he kicked off. He carried with him no equipment other than his mandatory blade and pistol and of course the beacon gripped tightly by both hands. He faced forward as he mutely flew towards his target, continually running a self-made plan over and over in his head.

He intended to land on the asteroid next to the geth ship rather than on it. With no real way to slow his flight, he didn't want to impact the ship for fear of tipping it off to his presence. He aimed to grab ahold of an outcropping on the uneven and craggy portion of the surface east of the geth. All he had to do at that point was just launch himself close enough to the Kellius to use the magnets in his boots to walk into the airlock or cargo bay. Simple enough, right? Right.

Unfortunately, the dangerous and unpredictable nature of the asteroid field was not about to go unchallenged. Out of the corner of his eye, Kevin spotted a rock easily four times bigger in its diameter than he was tall slowly spinning towards his flight path. If Kevin's mental calculations were anything to go by, things were just about to go all wrong. If that asteroid hit him or blocked his path, the mission would instantly be a failure because they'd miss their chance to land the beacon on this one geth. It was good, then, that Kevin's calculations were off by just a smidgen. The backward-spinning asteroid passed in front of him, but it was so close that he had to use a hand to push off of it to avoid being smacked by an outcropping. He flattened out as much as he could, but the tip of the incoming hill nicked his right knee with the force of a fully loaded crate.

His first reaction was to grunt heavily in pain and use a free hand to press down on the injury to feel for serious damage. Luckily his knee was still intact, but there was going to be some nasty bruising, even with medi-gel. His second reaction was to feverishly figure out how bad his trajectory had been affected. Again it would seem luck was somewhat on his side – he was still heading in the same general direction, but he was now stuck in a slow backwards spin of his own. This was disorienting as heck, and it made determining his distance from the target extremely difficult. Just then, someone called over the comms.

_"Kevin, are you alright? Don't worry, this channel is secure." _It was Ralik.

He let out a tightly held breath. "I'm fine, but my current situation keeps me from determining distance to target. Can I get some help with that?"

_"Sure thing. Currently fifteen meters and closing at a rate of one point five meters a second. Your trajectory was modified a bit as well, stand by. . . It looks like you'll hit due south of the geth."_

"Okay. Thanks."

South wasn't where he wanted to be. He wanted to be east where it was craggy, and south was smooth without anything to grab. He would have to improvise again. He looked up and saw the asteroid dangerous close as it came into view, and his current spin would have him landing face-first. He held the beacon above his head and he switched on the magnet, making ready to cling to the metal-rich deposits in the rock via the beacon.

Murphy was paying close attention to this mission, it seemed. The flat area south of the geth had already been mined clean of metals, so there was nothing for the beacon's magnet to grab onto. Once Kevin realized this, he had barely enough time to move the beacon out of the way before he faceplanted square into the surface. The impact had enough momentum to cause his backbones to audibly crack when his light spin finished out in a veritable bellyflop, and he was glad that he wasn't spinning forwards instead which might have resulted in a much more serious injury. He was even more thankful that his visor didn't crack and implode and that he hadn't lost his hold on the beacon.

He could only count his blessings for so long, though. After the impact, he found he was floating away from the asteroid and away from his target. To make matters worse, he was heading out towards open space through a dense asteroid field, where he had somewhere of around a ninety-five percent chance of getting pummeled by a wayward rock before the Kellius could even catch him. He had to think of something, and he had to think of something _now_.

An idea sprang into his head and he started gathering dark energy to himself. Using a biotic push on himself was flat out suicide, so he had come up with a much more creative way to get this mission back under control. He encased himself in a negative mass effect field to decrease his own mass exponentially. He then took out his pistol and aimed it exactly one hundred and eighty degrees from the direction he intended on heading. He fired one shot and his flight away from the asteroid came to an abrupt halt. Another shot propelled him in the direction opposite of his aim. He was moving back towards the asteroid again, but this time at a much more controlled pace. With the beacon awkwardly tucked under one arm and his pistol firmly gripped by the other hand, he resumed his mission.

He had to take four more shots in order to correct his course so that he could land where he planned. Since his gun had no way of dissipating the heat, he had to rely entirely on the thermal clip. He had to take special care not to use up the current heat sink in his clip because ejecting it would be like launching a beacon for searching geth sensors to center on. The gun displayed that he could shoot about five more times before it automatically ejected it, which meant four more shots to correct his direction and speed.

He still aimed for the craggy region to the east of the ship, an he only required one last shot to slow his approach just as he got there. He grabbed ahold of an outcropping before the rest of his body smacked against it and held fast. From here, he planned to drift across the back of the target vessel and lightly place the beacon on its back. He'd use the magnetic hold of the device to stop all movement so he could aim and launch himself back to the Kellius. This was if all went according to plan, of course, and so far things hadn't gone his way.

It was time to execute his plan. He bounced on the crags a couple times to perfect his angle before finally letting go on the final bounce. His trajectory was spot on and his velocity was minimal. A few meters later, Kevin activated the magnet on the beacon and aimed it down at the back of the ship. Kevin felt a light thunk through his arms and he knew that the device was stuck on good. He activated the device and immediately started making visual scans of the entire area to ensure that no geth had taken notice. Fortunately, none had, and he looked back at his ship.

"Tracking bug in place," he transmitted. "Making my way back now."

_"Acknowledged. Make it quick, it looks like the geth are stirring,"_ Tyr said.

Before he could make his move, however, the geth he was on ceased mining and began to pull away from the asteroid. "Crap," he muttered. Fearing that the geth had detected his presence, he held onto the beacon for dear life to stay out of the way of the weapons, sensors or anything else he could possibly avoid. His fears were alleviated when the ship simply turned towards open space and started to fly out. Obviously this was a bad situation, especially if the geth left and hit FTL with him holding on.

Aiming for the Kellius at this point was out of the question. He would have to rely on his last three shots to change his angle and velocity enough to get to the ship. He looked up for his general target area and pushed hard off of the geth vessel. He could hear his breathing again, a warning to himself that he was getting a bit stressed. There were so many ways for this to end badly, starting with the stray tumbling rock that he was about to be splattered across. Thinking quickly, he shot with his gun at a sharp angle to change his trajectory enough with intent to avoid the asteroid entirely. Impact was not an option here – it would be fatal.

Luckily, it worked. Mostly. His path was now that of a grazing one, but this time he wanted to do more than just skim by it like the first one. Getting an outcropping to the knee could easily have enough force to shatter his bones all the way to the spine. As the asteroid was passing within leg's length under his feet, he tucked his knees to his chest and waited. At what he felt was the right moment, he shot his legs out straight at the asteroid. This was to send him more towards the Kellius with less shots, since he only had two left. The upside was that it was a general success – his path was better corrected towards the Kellius. The somewhat expected downside was that the short moment of friction caused him to go into a dizzying forward spin. He suddenly felt nauseous.

He then realized he hadn't thought this particular action all the way through. The spinning caused him to lose all bearing on direction and distance. Trying to aim for the Kellius was pointless now, and the best he could do with his last two shots was try to stop the spinning. Fortunately, he could spot the Kellius with each revolution, so at least he knew when the best time to shoot was so that he didn't accidentally give himself more velocity. He blanketed himself in a negative mass effect field again and shot twice with as precise timing as he could muster.

His spinning slowed, but not completely. The forward spin was, however, slower than his earlier post-impact one, and he could finally get his bearings. More good news and bad news came along with this action. He was traveling toward the Kellius like he wanted, but the bad news was that he was going to just barely miss the bottom of the fuselage and head right out into the same open field of colliding stones as before. He flailed fruitlessly, and even considered aborting the entire mission by firing that last shot.

"I'm going too low! I'm going to miss the cargo bay!" A few grunts made his panicked struggle audible. His breathing and heartbeat dominated his thoughts along with the replaying image of a bloody smear on the side of an asteroid.

As he came around his last spin on his way by the edge of the cargo bay, he stretched his arm out in a vain attempt to latch onto the corner. Much to his dismay, it was a little more than an arm's length out of reach. To his surprise, however, something had latched onto _him_. It stopped his spinning and held on tight as his momentum attempted to rip him from the ship. Once his head was clear enough, he looked to see what had caught him and saved his life. He found a hand wrapped tightly around his – Arla's hand. She was dangling from her grip on the inside bottom corner of the open loading ramp.

"Where do you think you're going, Folner? We have a mission to complete!" Not surprisingly, she sounded more relieved than cocky.

"Freakin' a, Arla! I think I love you right now!"

"Yeah yeah yeah. Get inside already so we can clear out of this deathtrap." As Kevin climbed up and into the cargo bay, she contacted the bridge. "I got him, guys. He's all set."

_"Thank Keelah,"_ Bela responded.

Once they were both inside, the cargo bay was sealed and pressurized. _"We're receiving telemetry data. Good work, Folner!" _Kar exclaimed.

"Did it notice the beacon? Is that why it took off?" Kevin asked.

_"That didn't appear to be the case,"_ Ralik said. _"I think it had reached its mining capacity and had to return with the payload. It's heading for the usual jump point at edge of the asteroid belt now."_

Arla turned to face Kevin. "All that's left of this investigation is to go vent the IES3 tanks, FTL out to the destination and make our analysis. You did an undeniably good job out there, Kevin. Real Xelvas'taersh stuff. I know Siri would be proud of that."

"Are you getting squishy on me, Tavval?"

"'Going soft' is the term, I believe. Squishy just sounds so. . ."

"Yeah, sounds like something out of a porno." Crude jokes helped him settle his nerves sometimes.

"That's the sort of statement we expect out of Bela, Kevin."

Kevin winked, but he doubted she caught it. There was a quick lull while they turned to head upstairs.

"So about what you said before you headed off to play hero. . ."

"I don't think I was at one hundred percent there. I was sort of losing it due to nausea and facing my own death and stuff so I-" Kevin cut himself short and paused his walk when he caught her giving him the dagger-eyed stare of doom. Kevin suddenly found himself unable to say anything. Not because of her stare, but because of the situation he'd gotten himself into just by quoting Nor. He hadn't thought of the immense weight of those words when he said them. Now that he had time to think about it, he could see all the implications that came with it. Implications of deep feelings, a connection, and ultimately, an imminent and premature demise.

He avoided the premature demise, at least for now, but he and Nor never made it this far. What now?

When he looked back to Arla, she was standing there, impatiently waiting for an answer. This wasn't the tap-of-the-foot irritated impatience, this was the I-really-need-to-know impatience. Despite her easy to read desire for a straight answer, Kevin hadn't sorted any of it out yet. He lacked an answer, so he did the thing he usually did during awkward situations that got a little out of hand.

"I- I think they need us in the bridge, we should get moving." Kevin looked towards the floor and charged for the airlocked stairs.

Arla's body language was fairly clear here. It depicted a mix of unfulfillment and irritation. Kevin knew that now was not the time to be arguing about it, so he took this opportunity to dodge the issue without fear of immediate debate. He also knew that there was no dodging the issue a second time, so he had to get his head right and figure out just what was going on up there. Not just for the sake of answering to Arla, either. He had to make the decision of whether to move on or not for himself.

Kevin left Arla high and dry, but he knew she wasn't one to get so distressed that she couldn't do her job. Within seconds of his speedy retreat, he spotted her jogging to catch up. They entered the bridge together and saw the garden world growing outside the viewports. Kevin pretended to flex his muscles at Bela, and she humped the air as a response. Kevin pointed both index fingers at her in approval and he quickly received a punch in the arm from Arla next to him.

"This will only take a few minutes," Kar announced to the many watchers in the bridge. "We just have to touch down so we don't attract the geth's attention when we vent the tanks. It's the only real safe venting place there is outside of shimmying up by the sun or traveling to the far side of the system where most of the planets are right now."

"Are we getting telemmetry yet?" Arla asked.

"Still waiting for it to come back up since it went to FTL," the young quarian replied.

"I expect that we should be seeing it in the next few minutes unless their destination is a significant distance away," Tosh added.

The conversation died and the entire crew of the Kellius watched in silence as Kar navigate the ship to a tight valley on the opposite side of the planet of their basecamp. They landed for no more than three to four minutes before taking off again. Just as Tosh predicted, the beacon's location data began to reach the Kellius just as they lifted off.

"Wow," Ralik exclaimed. "That's not too far off, actually. It's not even the distance between the black nebula and this star system."

"But it looks like it's set relatively close to the nebula," Kevin pointed out. "If we FTL to the far side of the nebula the same way we came in, travel along until we're close to it and then pop around, we might be able to get there without giving away our position. It's better than trying to make our stealth last the entire trip, right?"

"Good call, Kevin. I'll do that." Kar nodded and aimed the Kellius in the proper direction before sending it to FTL once outside the atmosphere. "This detour should only take up about ten minutes tops."

Most of the crew filtered out to the briefing room and took a seat. Kevin took the one closest to the burned and jagged side. "Anyone have an idea what we'll find?" He was hoping some realistic answers might calm the churning in his stomach. It wasn't the same kind of anxiousness he felt before jumping out into the asteroid field. This was more subtle. Once more, he recognized this sickly feeling from before the team boarded the geth homeship. The fact that it was still bothering him this much only served to make it worse.

Riik was the first to take a shot at it. "I'm guessing a station built to store their payloads. They probably need some obscure place to keep it all if they want to maintain their ranks stranded here."

Kevin tilted his head. Riik's statement implied that he already knew they weren't going home.

"I don't know," Bela said. "They're mining out an entire asteroid belt. That's a lot for just maintenance. It's not like they consume it that much."

Ralik placed a finger on his flat chin. "True. Where is it all going? What's it being used for?"

"Not likely a fleet, I'm guessing," Tyr added. "There's no reason for it. There's nothing out here."

"Then what might require such a huge amount of metals and minerals that they need to mine out a whole belt?" Tosh asked.

Arla leaned in. "If it's not something of large quantity, it has to be something big." Heads nodded in agreement.

This conversation was not helping.

"I don't like this," Kevin finally said.

"Why not?" Bela asked while hanging her head upside-down over the back of her chair.

"What I mean is that I have a bad feeling about what we're going to find out there."

"It's just a feeling, Kevin. It'll pass," Arla assured.

"I remember when I used to rely on those," Tyr joked.

"I get feelings about food after I eat, sometimes," Ralik mocked.

There was a round of chuckles. Normally Kevin would let it go. After all, they had to keep calm about the situation somehow. This was more serious than that, though.

"You guys don't understand. I've only had this feeling once before," Kevin defended.

"Oh yeah? When was that?" Riik asked, expecting a joke.

"Before we boarded the Valesh'saat."

The atmosphere in the room fell and shattered like a giant pane of glass.

"We're here!" Kar informed. "Activating stealth!"

Nobody moved. Kevin gave them all a quick stare before he got up and left for the bridge. After everyone else exchanged looks for a bit they followed suit. As they filed up front, they heard Kevin's report of what he saw outside.

"Oh my God. . ."

Arla was the first of the following group to get a look outside. "Keelah. . ."


	32. Chapter 31

_**Chapter 31**_

"Keelah. . ." Arla uttered under her breath at the sight before them.

The Kellius drifted silently away from the dark nebula towards the point of interest as depicted by the coordinates sent by the beacon. The object currently being viewed by the crew was both expected and unexpected at the same time. They expected to find some form of geth ship or structure, and they clearly did. What they didn't expect was the style or scale.

The ominous object they all observed appeared to be an enormous, partially constructed metal sphere. The areas unfinished were sharp, jagged, and concave, with no visible form of atmospheric containment. The sphere appeared to be two-thirds of the way complete based on external observation, but how much of that was complete on the inside was impossible to tell at the moment. The external surface bore no significant features of any kind, lacking weapons and sensor arrays. Geth ships – all of them mining vessels – came and went, frequently disappearing inside large unloading bays on the completed eastern hemisphere. It seemed Riik's hunch was spot on. They had found a geth resource repository.

"Can't we see into that thing?" Tyr asked all authoritative-like.

"What?" Kar absentmindedly asked before snapping to attention and mashing on his haptic screens. "Oh, right! Sorry, sorry. Penetrative scans are running now." A few seconds had gone by and Kar shook his head. "Ergh. It's messy. Not blank like the planets, just. . . Patchy. Like something's interfering with our scans, but not stopping it completely. Here's the best render I can get. Other scans show minimal activity. Nothing's really going on in there right now."

A familiar wireframe image took its place on the terminals around the bridge, only this time it was of the unfinished sphere rather than a huge ship. Kar's interpretation of 'patchy' was a little off. Some areas of the render were clearly defined – rooms, hallways, and equipment were clear-cut. A large portion, however, spread randomly throughout the render, was a messy mishmash of lines as if hundreds upon hundreds of structural beams were haphazardly crisscrossing through all manner of open space.

Enough of the render was clear for them to come to a few important realizations, though. For one, there was a fairly massive power core at the southern pole – far more than was needed for simple refining and storing operations. Second, there was a huge room at the center full of equipment whose purpose was ominously unclear. Third, there was a large room at the northern pole that had enough of it clear to be identified as a manufacturing plant.

Kevin's relaxed stance stiffened. "Good Lord. This isn't a repository, it's a bona fide geth central hub. A full-on base of operations."

"Bad, bad news," Riik said as he crossed his arms and shook his head.

Tyr laid the reality of this discovery out on the table. "Given the time and resources of the system, they could amass an entire armada out here and not one soul would have any idea what's going on until they decided to go on the offensive. We have do something about this."

The team all looked at each other silently in light of this statement. Last time they voluntarily assaulted a huge geth structure, they lost who they believed to be the most important person on the squad. "But what?" Bela finally asked. Again, silence reigned. Eyes trickled back to the irregular sphere. It's daunting size intimidated them and it radiated an unnatural authority-demanding fear and awe.

Kevin's mind momentarily flashed to the scorched Xelvas'taersh emblem laying on the desk in his quarters. He felt that rising heat of hatred for the geth returning. He wondered if that's what Siri had felt when they found the valesh'saat. Acting almost against his own will, he spoke up.

"We go in and blow it from the inside." All eyes focused on him, begging for some reason why they should follow through with such an obscene suggestion. "It's what captain Kortel would have wanted." The line was cliché, and he knew that. The only thing for him to do now was be ready to handle whatever sort of response the rest of the squad had. There was a minute of silence as everyone debated the issue inside their minds. It felt like an hour.

"He's right," Arla said. "That's exactly what she'd have wanted. As it stands, this structure alone is a priority two threat to the Migrant Fleet. The captain would have us disable it somehow." There were subtle nods throughout the quarian members of the squad, showing solidarity of thought.

Tyr stepped forward. "Then let's make our captain proud. The Xelvas'taersh are handling this now, so let's get it done right like the Xelvas'taersh do."

The level of confident agreement rose sharply – well, all except for Ralik. In typical fashion, he wasn't keeping up with the level of readiness. Kevin would deal with that in time. For now, he had to build off of the existing momentum if anything was going to get done before cognitive dissonance set in.

"Let's get a plan set up real quick-like," Kevin suggested. "It's crunch time, ladies and gents. Bela, we need a way to disable the entire structure. Explosives, electricity like last time, whatever. Do you have any ideas?"

Bela leaned in to study the render for a moment. "That looks like some sort of power generator at the southern end, right? Well, fortunately, power generators and catastrophic chain reactions go hand in hand like cliché lovers."

"How about delivery?" he pressed.

"Easy as pie. I can combine a few special projectiles meant for my launcher to provide an adequate boom. Explosives are a lot more friendly than dischargers size-wise, so I'll be able to carry it in myself."

"That's why I like you Bela. Always ready for that climactic fire," Kevin added, to which Bela winked. "Tyr, how do you suggest we get it there?"

"Same way as the last time, Kevin," he confidently replied. "We walk it in. There's good news and bad news on this front, however. The bad news is that we don't have any preexisting maps, for obvious reasons, and our current intel on the interior is sketchy at best. The good news is that the factory doesn't appear to be fully functional yet, and we might have better success at simply walking in and planting our bomb. Since all of the construction appears to be on the side facing away from the main lines of activity, we should be able to easily settle in an unfinished portion of the structure and make our way from there, barring any alarms."

"Tosh, Ralik?" Kevin shot out. He was doing everything he could to keep this rolling the way Siri did.

"It's interesting you mention that, Tyr," Tosh started. "I won't be able to tell for certain until we leave the Kellius, but. . . It appears that there aren't any internal alarms or sensors. Either they haven't added them in yet, or perhaps they believed that no one would make their way here."

Riik gestured to speak and leaned in. "I may be going ahead of myself here, but why not simply make this a two-commando mission? It seems to me there is very little immediate threat here."

"Tepka no," Tyr spat. "We'll have none of this splitting up nonsense. The only person that will not be a part of the boarding team will be the one watching the ship."

"That's me, I suppose," Kar said, finally making his presence known.

Tyr nodded. "We're not sure what to expect here, Welkas. I expect you'll keep a sharp eye on things external and internal to the structure as best you can."

"Will do, sir," Kar said with a salute.

"Arm up, team," Tyr ordered in his usual fashion. "Let's get this done right and get it done quick. The sooner we put this devilish place to rest, the better. Bela, you have five minutes to get that bomb together."

"Got it. Tosh, I'll need you to throw together a quick gizmo for me." Tosh nodded in response.

Tyr straighted up. "Everyone clear on their objective?"

"For the captain," Arla stated as she slammed her palms together.

"For the captain!" the team resounded as they broke from the bridge.

Kevin was grateful for the the show of bravado – it indicated that his work on keeping the momentum up was successful by some measure. He knew, however, that this was a front used by most to cover up feelings of anxious uncertainty. He himself wasn't immune, either. The gut feeling he had was now wrenching knots out of his innards. Tyr was right – the sooner they were rid of this place, the better.

Within minutes, the team had gotten themselves as equipped as remaining stockpiles would allow. Bela's many suit-sewn hooks and latches had the parts of her bomb dangling from them and she looked much the same way she did when Kevin first met her on the downed Forverna. The only one not armed to the teeth was Kar, and he was only amongst the others as they gathered by the airlock to send them off.

"Be careful in there, guys," the youngest quarian muttered. "You'll do the Migrant Fleet no good if you're dead. Okay, I've got the airlock level with the edge of a partially completed room. I didn't land in there for a lot of obvious reasons, one of them being that the airlock is easier to defend than the loading ramp if crap hits the fan. There's a door at the far side, likely sealing off any pressure, if any. Watch out for the exhaust when you open it – I can't guarantee any miracle life-saving dangling catches from inside the cockpit." Kar cast a sideways glance at Arla for good measure.

"Alright, let's get to it," Arla ordered. Everyone nodded and turned to the opened airlock.

After the team filed out of the ship, they activated the magnets designed to keep them anchored to the floor. There was no gravity well out on the edges of the incomplete areas, but this was expected. During their approach to the door, Tosh was mashing away at his omni-tool, running any sort of scan he could to detect alarm systems and sensors. When they made it, the team split into lines against the wall on either side of the door in typical military breach fashion. Arla nodded at Tosh and he switched his attention of his omni-tool to the door power-cycling program he had written for the last mission in geth territory. Interestingly, the program needed no adaptation to successfully perform its duties here, and the door opened. There was a slight constant exhaust from the door, but it was more equatable to a breeze than a fierce rush of wind and the invaders found little trouble pushing inside before the power cycle had finished.

The team paused a moment to analyze their new surroundings once the door closed behind them. The atmosphere was chillingly similar to the inside of the geth homeship – dimly lit, lacking in significant atmosphere and gravity, and quiet. The area they stepped into was a large square hallway, some ten meters tall and around six or seven meters wide. The walls and ceiling were lined with exposed cable and tubing to a much higher and more haphazard degree than the geth ship, indicating that this area was indeed still unfinished. It even reminded Kevin and Arla of the path they initially took in the homeship in that there were several holes large enough for one or two people to pass through lining the corners of the hall along the floor. The place where this differed from the ship the most was apparently in a number of the 'rooms' connected to the holes on the floor a ways down the hall. These ones had light flooding out of them as if there were construction crews illuminating their workspace at night.

"Nothing," Tosh muttered in withheld surprise.

"What?" Riik wondered aloud.

"There's nothing," Tosh said again. "No sensors, no alarm systems at all. It's like we caught the geth with their suits off. I'd still recommend suppressed comms, but unless we run into some active geth platforms, we're invisible."

"How convenient. And here I was hoping for a challenge," Kevin said nonchalantly. He was met with a few glares. "What? I'm obviously kidding."

"Regardless, weapons at the ready," Tyr ordered. "We don't need any surprises. Let's move."

The squad each brandished their primary weapons and proceeded down the hallway. Their maps indicated a somewhat convoluted path to the primary power source, since they had to account for the fact that the areas that the scans couldn't read correctly might not be passable. For starters, though, they had to pass to the other end of the hallway. This might have been simple if it were not so long.

"Guys, I probably shouldn't say this, but this place gives me the creeps," Bela admitted.

"It's just your nerves. Calm yourself, girl," Arla encouraged.

As they came upon the areas where there were lit rooms through the holes, several members of the team broke off to investigate. Most of them had strange-looking equipment strewn about, and there were small crates of unknown materials or items. Some had unused or deactivated geth bodies neatly lining the walls, but they were of a completely unfamiliar build. They were clearly not built for combat – they had no identifiable weapons or ablative plates. Their optics were visibly more complex, and their arms, though typical of any geth footsoldier, were thin and lined with strange plugs. This did little to settle the nerves of the team.

"What kind of place is this?" Ralik asked, his voice coated in tones of nervous wonder. "This is looking less and less like a manufacturing plant or base of operations. These aren't infantry or construction-based geth we're seeing here."

"Agreed." Tyr said as he moved on with the team.

Not more than a minute later, an astounded Tosh called everyone to attention. "Keelah. Everyone. . . Over here. You have to see this."

Everyone moved in on Tosh without hesitation. It was rare enough to hear that much vocalized emotion come from him that no one doubted the significance of his discovery. What they found in that room didn't disappoint.

The collective gasps and muttered words confirmed the seriousness of the situation. The room beyond this particular aperture was easily more than double the size than that of the others. It had the same strange equipment scattered about the room, but this time they were grouped into separate areas. More significantly, there were active geth in this room. It was the same unknown profile as before, each bouncing back and forth from station to station. More shocking than this, however, was that there were geth bodies latched to vertically mounted tables with their chest cavities opened up. Wires and synthetic innards were completely exposed as they were being worked on by several of the new geth. They didn't appear to be active at the time, but this was hardly surprising. The physical configuration of these opened geth were different as well – they were bulkier than those working on them, they had ablative plating, a 'backpack' attachment similar to larger builds, and they were around the size of a juggernaut-class. Their upper bodies were coated in a different material inside and out which gave them a metallic pastel purple sheen.

"Good God, is this a research station?" Kevin asked under his breath.

"Can't be," Riik muttered.

"Why not?" Ralik asked. "All species must perform research in order to learn new things. It seems the biggest disadvantages these geth have are lack of connection to the main fleet and no previous research on synthetics like we have previous research of our own kind."

"This. . . This is bad," Arla stated ominously.

"Why?" Kevin wondered.

"These geth here in this system are clearly estranged from the main fleet in the An'Ramini Expanse. Despite this, they've already built enough neural network capacity to actively experiment on their own to discover new capabilities."

"The lieutenant's right," Tosh added. "This level of advanced insight into discovery and application requires a high process count and is not normally intrinsic to the average geth node cluster. There's a lot more going on in this structure than we probably realize. These geth here may even be more advanced than the ones in the known galaxy, given their clustered topology in this system."

"_That _is one scary thought," Tyr said. "Combine that with the potential I outlined earlier, and this quickly becomes increasingly problematic."

Just as Tyr finished conveying his thoughts, one of the geth that previously had been opened and disabled was closed up by its respective worker and unlatched from its metal bonds. It stood upright and it looked around. Naturally, this garnered the silent attention of the team. The two geth exchanged digital information in the familiar medium of stuttered blips and the worker stepped aside. The experimental geth unit turned to face down to the opposite end of the room, took two steps forward, paused, then flicked a hand out towards a small stack of crates between it and the far wall. Kevin recoiled as he saw the familiar shimmer of dark energy barrel towards the crates. Upon impact, the crates blew apart and smashed into the far wall with enough force to put serious dents in it.

Everyone jumped out of surprise. It was only afterward that they all realized what had just happened: the geth had just figured out how to adapt biotics to their synthetic platforms.

"Did he just. . ."

"Was that what I thought that was?"

"Dear God, this is bad."

"Impossible."

"Not impossible, just implausible."

Each member of the team had to actively calm themselves down as to not reveal themselves to the workers below.

Ralik shook his head. "Yes, impossible. How could they have overcome the hardware limitations that prevent precise control of the dark energy? If we knew it was possible to do such a thing, we'd be using element zero for far more than simple distortion field creation for launching projectiles and FTL."

"It's always been theoretically possible, Ralik," Tosh pointed out. "Clearly these geth have some advantage that neither we nor the geth within the galaxy have come across. This has to be a recent development, however, or we would have seen it during the attack on the citadel. No one reported such a thing."

"Or these geth simply can't get back to the galaxy," Riik spouted. Despite the weight of the statement, the theories continued on anyways.

"They must have also developed ways to deal with static buildup from the element zero. . ." Ralik pondered.

"Question," Kevin said, interrupting the two theorists. "Why would they waste precious eezo on expendable infantry instead of using it for interstellar fleets? Are they _not_ planning an armada-based assault like we hypothesized?"

"That's a curious question indeed," Tosh remarked. "The geth favor efficiency above almost everything, as far as we know. It's how they protect their existence, being synthetics and all. This. . . This just not line up with that behavioral process at all. It almost seems backwards, which is made that much more significant given all this advancement."

Kevin sighed. "Either way, geth biotics are bad news for us in all sorts of ways. If we find another reason to take this place out, we might as well use WMDs. Let's hope we don't come across any of these; dealing with error-prone organic biotics is dangerous enough."

Ralik nodded. "Indeed. Let's get in and get out as fast as we can."

They all backed away from the opening and continued on their way down the long, empty hall. There were more lit up rooms, but they didn't bother to stop; they had already seen enough. Once they had made it away any room with any noticeable activity, the only sounds they could hear were their own throbbing heartbeats and the echoes of their footsteps. After what they had just seen, this quietness was maddening. It felt to Kevin as though this place should be high security, full of guarding bodies and abuzz with controlled chaos. This was, to him, the equivalent of a military intelligence and research center. Always moving, always alert, always guarding secrets. This was why the complete and total lack of this made no sense to him. Ironically, it was believable to think that the geth expected no intelligent beings other than their own to make it out here so soon, but that train of thought did little to change Kevin's automatic expectations of the place.

The rest of the winding trip was made in relative silence. Nobody dared speak, lest they get themselves worked up about their current situation and make a mistake. Fortunately, the rest of the trip was also made without contact with any geth-inhabited machinery. It was almost too easy, given the sensitive nature of the structure. They quite literally walked into the massive chamber where the power generators sat. Like the room, they were also massive – two huge unfamiliar machines hummed away as they worked, creating an audible frequency that did not resonate with the material of the walls at all to the point where it reverberated around the room so much that the team had to use their comm system to talk to each other. There was likely a fair amount of infrasonics involved, and Kevin felt nauseous the moment he stepped into the room. Additionally, there was almost no light to be had in here, so they had to utilize the photon-creating abilities of their omni-tools to illuminate the room.

Satisfied that they were able to get to their objective without any incident, the squad immediately started looking for the optimal place to set down Bela's package. No one was quite sure how the power was being generated, so finding a spot proved difficult. After Ralik and Tosh went about the room with omni-tools working overtime, they were able to see how it was all working. It seemed that some of the materials that the geth were mining from the asteroids could be easily transformed into an isotope that gave off massive amounts of radioactive and thermal energy. A few blocks of these isotopes were stored in each humming machine as they bled their energy. All of it was carefully contained and collected to power the entire structure. After Bela had worked out some math with Tosh, they selected a location roughly between the two structures that, according to their calculations, should disable both machines enough to cause a cataclysmic meltdown. Since neither system had physical damage fallbacks in place likely due to its unfinished nature, the meltdown should render the entire structure obscenely radioactive – enough to the point where electrical systems, such as a geth unit or server, would not be able to function. All the data would be lost along with the servers, and the geth would lose huge amounts of technological advancement as well as an important nerve center for their operations out here in the near-void of space. Not a bad plan for an on-the-fly observation.

Bela set her bomb down in the calculated position and rigged it with a remote detonation system that could be triggered from the Kellius. They had little worry of interference with the geth at this point because as far as they knew, the geth had no idea they were even in there at all. All they had left to do was exfiltrate and watch the fireworks. With the bomb rigged up and armed, the team backed out of the noisy and dark room to start their way back to the ship. By the time they had reached the final stretch of the long hallway, some of the overbearing tension had fallen off and hushed conversation was being made.

"Do you think the geth on the planet will come looking for us once this is done?" Bela asked.

"That's hard to say," Kevin replied. "I would imagine so."

"Guess our job is about to get a little less boring," Riik stated. Bela nodded in agreement.

"Let's just focus on getting out of here first," Ralik stated anxiously.

Tosh looked down into his face-up open palms. "Those geth are so different from what we know. . . If only I had a chance to study it up close, or-or get a look at that programming. It'd be invaluable to our understanding of how the geth have progressed after all this time. Plus, I'd like to get another chance to try out my platform pilot program. . ."

"Easy there, private," Arla said. "We can think about kidnapping some geth on the planet, where we'll have some solid ground under our feet and we're less likely to be overwhelmed."

"Right, right. But. . . The opportunities!"

"Tosh."

"So much to learn! I need to get a sample of their processes! Admiral Xen would never let me live this down!"

"Rolush! Bring it down a notch!"

Tosh responded by knocking his knuckles against his visor.

"I still can't believe how easy this all was," Tyr commented. "I was sure we'd come up against at least _some _resistance."

"Don't jinx it, chief," Kevin said. Joking, of course. "Let's just be glad this mission turned out alright."

"I'll take whatever I can get," the older quarian replied.

The conversation died down as they paused at the single door standing between them and their ship. Tosh ran his powercycle program and it performed as expected, allowing the team temporary passage. Anxious frowns throughout the squad turned to smiles of relief as the Kellius came into view, stealthily parked where they left it.

Kevin took the lead in heading for the airlock door. "Awesome. Let's get out of here." He stepped up to the airlock and tapped on his omni-tool to send the 'open' command. That's where the mission's perfect track record ended.

When the airlock wooshed open, there was a figure standing at the far side, waiting to get into the Kellius. Instinct took over and Kevin brought up his pistol with the usual lightning speed. He didn't fire, however. He wanted to know exactly what was in there. The silhouette, surprisingly, wasn't geth. No. It was quarian. Kevin's initial thought was that it was Kar, but that made no sense. Kar had no reason to leave his position in the bridge, and he knew the boy had no intentions of jeopardizing the mission by disobeying orders. As the rest of the team reacted to Kevin's actions by pulling weapons of their own on the figure, he had a few seconds to get a better look at it. It wore cloths and armor like a Migrant Fleet Marine, but many areas on the suit were patched with synthetic materials as though it had taken some serious damage. It dawned on him that the colors were familiar to him – frighteningly familiar. It was at that moment that the figure finally turned around to face the squad.

Kevin felt blood leave his face. The quarian figure standing before him _was_ familiar. Not just familiar, it was the captain. Captain Siri'Kortel. Red flags shot up everywhere in his mind, but he forced himself to stay focused on what was going on in front of him.

"Tepka Keelah. . ." Riik said, stunned. "Captain? Captain Kortel? I know that's you! I'd- I'd recognize those pauldrons anywhere!"

It was true, the captain's uniquely etched pauldrons were there in full, not replicated. They bore numerous scorch marks from the battle on the geth homeship. Kevin shook his head in wavering disbelief. He saw her ravaged body. He saw her disabled in combat. _He was there._ Some of the others, spurred on by Riik's comments, had lowered their weapons. Kevin had to say something. "Wait guys! It can't be the captain. She's dead, remember!" In some amount, it worked. Weapons were up, but it was clear that the bearers were completely unsure of whether or not they should be. Not that he could blame them, as he was doubting as well. For all intents and purposes, she was standing _right there_.

Riik took a step forward. "Really? That's not what I'm seeing standing in front of us! Besides, none of us saw her die! We went entirely on your word!"

"Think about it, Riik!" Kevin shot back. "Her suit – it's covered in patches made of geth materials!"

"What else was she going to use to fix the damage to her suit she likely sustained after you _abandoned_ her in the middle of that onslaught?"

Kevin grit his teeth. He knew something about this was all wrong, but he just couldn't bring himself to fire. His trigger finger, trained for years to kill upon the slightest whim of his mental command, was quivering on the trigger from the internal conflict. Why was he suddenly so unable to shoot? This wasn't how he dealt with red flag situations back home. Resolved in his mind that he had to fire regardless, he steeled himself to pull the trigger. . .

But it was too late. The figure inside had made use of its omni-tool and shut the airlock door before Kevin could pull the trigger far enough to initiate a shot. He saw red for a moment and thrust himself at the shut door in vain. After he had rebounded off of the cold metal, he spun around and mashed on his omni-tool to open the door. He slammed a fist against the hull when the message "ACCESS DENIED" returned on his screen. His next thought was to get in contact with Kar before it was too late.

"Kar! Kar'Welkas, respond!" he shouted into his comms. "Kar, intruder alert, intruder alert!" Staring blankly at the rest of his squad, they waited for a reply. Without shutting off his comms and turning his manual audio back on, he called to Tosh. "Tosh, can you hack this open? We need to get in, NOW."

Tosh didn't respond at all. It was as if he never said anything. Once more he called to Tosh, and once more he went without a response. He quickly realized his audio mix-up and he switched back to analog audio. "Tosh, what the crap's wrong with you? Listen to me!"

"Kevin, you haven't said a word since you tried to call Kar aboard the ship."

"Our comms are jammed," Ralik deduced with alarm in his voice. "When did they jam our comms?"

"Ah, crap. Team, we need a way in twenty seconds ago!" Tyr quickly moved up to the door in attempts to figure out how to get it open while the rest of the team scrambled for a solution. Tosh took multiple stabs at trying to regain control of the airlock doors, but to no avail. After a minute or so of futile omni-tool mashing, the team finally settled on the last resort plan of cutting their way in. Just as Tosh and Arla positioned themselves, however, the Kellius began pulling away from the structure. Heavily dismayed, the helpless onlookers could only back away from the edge of the platform and watch as their sole means of escape disappeared among the pitch blackness of space.

**-In the Bridge of the Kellius. . .-**

Kar sat in his helmsman's seat and vigilantly kept a close eye on geth movements external to the ship through the bridge monitors. He wanted to be extra sure that he could spot trouble in time to warn his squadmates so that they might be able to make it back before he had to dislodge from the structure. He had seen that his comrades had already been to their apparent destination and were on their way back, so his focus was external. There hadn't been any alarms raised or any ruckus over the comms, so he could only guess that they had completed the mission without any incident. He was glad for that – he didn't want to have to hear that another close shipmate of his had perished at the hands of the geth. Once was enough. He breathed a sigh of relief and he guessed that they were doing the same.

He was definitely looking forward to talking about what they had seen inside over a nice meal in the mess. He loved those group meals. They were good times, even if they weren't among the flotilla.

He heard the inner airlock door behind him open and subsequently shut. Someone must have gotten back a bit early. He didn't even bother to turn around yet – he was focused on making sure the geth were content to not bother with them at all. That changed when he heard something on the comms.

_"Kar! Kar'Welkas, resp-"_ Kevin had yelled. There was a lot of alarm in his voice, so he stood from the seat to ask whoever had entered what was going on.

Kar did a pretty complete triple-take when he saw what he believed to be his late captain approaching him from the airlock. She was all beaten up and patched with a strange synthetic material. Geth material?

"C-captain? Is that you? It can't be, Kevin said you're dead!"

There was no response from the captain other than the fact that she barreled right toward him. He wasn't sure what was going on, so he didn't know if he was supposed to brace for an attack or brace for a hug. It didn't matter anyways. The captain yanked his back-of-the-head tubing hard enough to cause him to lose balance. The moment he hit the floor, the captain laid a hand on his lower left shoulder. He felt a sharp, piercing pain under her grasp as though he had just been stabbed by a bladed weapon, and he screamed. The feeling of the stab was quickly overwhelmed by a burning sensation that was swiftly expanding through his body from the wound site. He feared he had just been poisoned by his captain and he struggled to fight back. Overcome by the searing feeling coursing through his veins, he could only watch through tunneling vision as his assailant sat in his most precious and sacred seat and took control of his ship. The last thing he heard was the various alarms of his suit warning of foreign entities within and the notice of the automatic clamping system closing off the wound site.

**-On the Geth Structure. . .-**

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Bela cried out after the Kellius had disappeared from sight. "We're trapped now!"

Kevin gave Riik an all-too-obvious death glare, laced inside and out with accusation for their current predicament. "Care to explain, Riik?"

Riik stammered and struggled for an answer, but failed to make one materialize.

"I can see you thought _this_ through for consequences, Riik," Kevin blasted, nearly giving away the anger that he was having trouble keeping in check.

"We're all at fault," Tyr interjected. "None of us took the shot, Kevin. Even you."

Kevin clenched a fist out of sight from the others. Tyr was one hundred percent right, but it was the very thing Tyr called him out on that made him so upset. Was he losing his touch?

"So what now?" Arla asked.

"We need to disarm my bomb," Bela said, frantic and disheartened. "If a geth tampers with it enough, it could go off while we're still stuck here. I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not melt inside my suit due to excessive exotic radiation."

"Right," Tyr said accompanied by a nod. "Team, listen up. Things look bad right now, but we wouldn't be Xelvas'taersh if the Admiralty Board didn't think we could handle ourselves. Let's focus on getting that bomb disabled first, then we'll decide where to go from there."

Kevin already knew what they had to do after the bomb was collected – they had to get off of the station. This red flag situation had already shown itself to be just that, and like back home, he knew it was time to get out of dodge. There was just one glaring problem: they had no ship with which to disembark. Kevin looked up from his thoughts to see everyone coming to grips with the situation and doing their best to own it emotionally. After the collective resolve had been mustered, the team finally made their way into the long hallway.

"What do you suppose happened to Welkas?" Ralik asked in a surprisingly gentle fashion.

Everyone looked at each other, unwilling to admit the worst. Bela finally laid it down straight. "Welkas was in the bridge. If the Kellius was flying away, it was because he was no longer in control. We have to assume that he's, well, dead."

"Bela!" Arla chastised.

Kevin placed a hand on Arla's shoulder. "We're all thinking it. She's just saying it." There were a few nods and the group fell silent again. The silence remained until they had gotten to the bomb. Once again, they were unopposed the entire way. Arla and Tyr focused their light on the bomb so that Bela could work at disarming and disassembling the device. She shook her head in pure irritation as she took each piece off, as if disassembling the completed and once-armed bomb was the most insulting thing anyone could make her do.

As she worked, everyone began brainstorming on a new plan of action. Focus was, not surprisingly, on finding a viable way back to the planet. Deliberations continued for several minutes after Bela had gathered the pieces and hooked them all back on her suit. For the most part, ideas were unreasonable to an extreme or simply unlikely to work. That is, until one thing that Tosh had said earlier in the mission had struck Kevin.

"Tosh, I heard you say something about a pilot program. What was that about?"

"That? Oh, the pilot program is something I had been working on for a while. It's designed to tunnel into an unoccupied geth platform and run enough emulated instances to essentially allow me to control the platform while receiving all the normal inputs that it can."

"Sounds dangerous," Kevin replied.

"It would be if I wasn't already prepared for such problems. It cannot communicate with any geth process, cluster, or server as long as my emulations are in control. This is a double-edged sword, unfortunately, as it makes it so other geth can't communicate with it at all. This pretty much identifies it as a rogue platform from the get-go, so no infiltration. Additionally, you have to understand that I am the one in control, not the software emulations. All they are doing is providing me with workable interfaces to the input/output layer of the hardware so I can use them. Finally, it cannot 'take over' an active geth platform – I have other programs for that, and that's very temporary. Technically, I can maintain this pilot program as long as I have a stable connection to the node or platform. It can-"

"Excuse me for interrupting, Tosh, but I think that'll do," Kevin said. "This is perfect, then. We just need to find a dormant geth transport or mining vessel and use it to get back to the planet. All we have to do is hole up in whatever cargo space there is."

"What if we can't all fit? Geth are normally transported in a collapsed state," Arla pointed out.

"Then Tosh can give a bunch of us the program in case we have to take multiple ships."

Tosh placed two fingers on the chin of his helmet. "It _sounds_ possible, in theory. I can upload the program to a few omni-tools, but I must warn any potential users that it is huge, data-wise; complex, software-wise; and not exactly user friendly, interface-wise."

"I'm in," Kevin said right away. "Hit me."

"Anyone else?" Tosh asked. "I'm only doing this once – ever. Oh, as an addendum to my earlier disclaimer, there are no tutorials. If we get separated, you're entirely on your own."

"I'll take a copy," Arla said.

Seeing that there were no other takers, Tosh nodded and began uploading copies to Kevin and Arla's omni-tools. It was going to take a while to upload, so they decided to keep moving.

"Now we just have to figure out where they keep spare ships," Ralik noted. "This is a problem, considering we don't have a better picture of this structure. I don't believe we identified any hangars in the render Kar'Welkas got us."

"We don't have a lot of options right now," Tyr stated. "We'll simply have to perform recon duties until we find a feasible target. No splitting up – we're moving as a single unit on this mission, understand? It's too easy to get lost and we have no idea if the hive has been stirred up." A round of nods confirmed the order.

At this point, they gathered together and moved out. They had quite an assortment of intersections, criss-crosses, and unfinished areas of the structure that they could use to move in directions not previously taken, so it was simply a matter of figuring out which direction seemed to fit best. They had a general idea of where the active geth were, which was the far side of the structure. They had no idea how to get there, however, though they guessed it was more or less a matter of finding the paths that cut through the center of the sphere. Their major worry right now was whether or not they'd have to fight their way there. Tosh was running a mapping application on his omni-tool, which recorded their movement and direction overlaid onto the incomplete scan from the Kellius. This was to prevent unintentional backtracking. As it turns out, geth internal design lacks clean aesthetics in any form – each hallway wall was lined with an amalgam of tubes, massive pipes, bulbous outcroppings, and unfinished bulkheads. That didn't leave much in the way of identifiable landmarks.

As they cautiously trekked down the dark corridors, Riik broke the tense silence. "Okay. So maybe that wasn't the captain. Then I have to ask: How did the geth perfectly recreate a quarian envirosuit, complete with unique etchings and all, from a quarian aboard a ruined vessel?"

"There's nothing saying that it's a replication at all," Ralik postulated. "In fact, since the vessel was never outright destroyed, there's a possibility that. . ." Ralik cut himself off. The possibility he nearly vocalized was disturbing, at best. "Err, they could have gathered the suit from the ship and sent it out here?"

"Possible," Tosh reluctantly agreed. "It's been over a week since that event."

"Shut it!" Arla ordered with as much volume suppression as she could muster. "Movement ahead!"

Everyone reacted most professionally and pressed themselves against the right side of the wall behind any obstruction they could find. The movement was clearly heading this way, judging by the low hum emanating from whatever was approaching. Around a corner down the hall, a hovering rack nearly reaching the uneven ceiling appeared and slowly floated towards them. Behind it looked like a 'research class' geth pushing the rack along. The rack itself was loaded top to bottom with collapsed geth bodies, all with the purple sheen from the strange material used in the biotic geth from the research room. There had to be at least twenty of those things on there. The geth effortlessly pushed the rack by the unseen interlopers and took a left into a room down the hall behind the team. They waited for the geth to return and head back the way it came before any of them bothered to breathe, much less move.

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then Bela spoke up. "There's no way they were able to perfect the design for manufacturing that quickly. No way. We saw them testing it when we first got here! That was hardly more than an hour and a half ago!"

"They must be devoting a lot of resources into this," Tosh contemplated aloud as he walked past everyone towards the room the rack was dropped off in. "I have to take a moment to analyze these up close, guys. This is invaluable as part of our mission."

"I don't think now's the best time, Tosh," Kevin said.

"He's right, Kevin," Riik said. "Part of our mission is to destroy the geth, but part of it is also to look for more information about them. We _know_ no one back home is even aware of these new developments. We at least need to get what we can."

Some of the other squadmates approved and Kevin sighed. "I'm just trying to get out of here. If you guys want to stop for an intellectual potty break, fine. Just don't come crying to me when the crap hits the fan."

There was very little reaction to Kevin's statement. Kevin looked to Ralik and the salarian shrugged back before they both followed the others to the room. Once inside, Kevin's eyes widened. There wasn't just one rack of geth, there were at least ten. Not all of them were biotic geth, but they were all specialized types, such as Hunter class, Juggernaut class, and even a rack of four geth primes.

"Did anybody check off the "military storage" box yet? No? I got it," Kevin said. He held up an imaginary datapad and made a big checkmark gesture with his other hand.

"Is there any way to disable all of these without alerting the rest?" Arla asked.

"I don't think so," Tosh answered as he stepped further into the room, omni-tool at the ready. "A geth body, by default, sends an alert to the nearest node when it's moved, jostled, or has its innards cut. It's a basic hardwired alarm, there's no AI involved. I learned this the hard way last time I tried my pilot program. It, uh, stirred up the geth on the valesh'saat. But I've accounted for that, so it will never happen again."

Kevin and Arla stared at Tosh as he walked over to a rack of the unfamiliar, new geth class.

"Don't give me that look. I know that look. Trust me, I've fixed that." Tosh meddled with his omni-tool and one of the geth snapped up as if it was called to attention in a military line. It unfolded gently and hopped to the floor. It looked at Bela and pulled a weapon, but failed to aim. Nevertheless, everyone instinctively prepared to fire at the potential threat.

"Wait!" Tosh yelled. "It's under my control. I apologize, I ran a prep routine. It just happened to be a combat prep routine."

"Quit fiddling around, Tosh," Kevin again chastised.

Kevin's remark once again fell on deaf ears as Tosh analyzed information fed to his omni-tool. "Hmm. Definitely a change in the hardware. A pretty significant change, actually. There's more room for processes in this model. It likely takes a large number of simultaneous processes to control the biotic subsystem alone. Lots of data architecture modifications as well. This is significantly more advanced a setup than the geth we have on file. I hypothesized that this would be the case, but this is still disturbing news. We're falling way behind their technology curve."

"If you're done, Rolush, we do need to get moving," Arla said, sympathizing with Kevin's uneasiness.

"I've got all I need here for now. I'll take a deeper look at it later."

"Assuming there _will_ be a 'later'," Riik tossed out.

"None of that, Votis," Tyr reprimanded. "Alright, team, let's move out." Tosh nodded and ordered the empty geth to fold itself back up on the rack and he followed the rest out of the room.

Back out into the dark, deafeningly quiet hallways of the structure, the squad wandered around for a good twenty uneventful minutes before they were finally able to locate a walkable path that lead to the far side. As they expected, this path seemed to cut through the middle, hopefully minimizing their travel time. They quickly bypassed several doors and openings along their way as they had only one objective right now – get out.

They stopped at a three-way intersection at the end of a long hall to survey the new direction options. It wasn't so much a T split as it was a Y split, and both directions went on for quite a while. Arla utilized her sniper scope to get a better look, but she stopped abruptly and handed Kevin the weapon. Confused, Kevin simply stared at her. She silently responded by flicking her head in the direction she was just looking, signaling Kevin to have a peek. Kevin shifted over and did so. Down the hall, he saw a squad of about six or seven geth heading up the corridor towards them. They were diverse in their classes, with the only missing class being a geth prime. Weapons were drawn.

"Crap," Kevin said aloud. "The factory's operational and churning out active military geth. A squad of some seven units are heading this way now."

"Probably a recon and force team," Riik explained. "They might know we're aboard, but they probably don't know our exact locations. We should back it up, now. I don't have to tell you guys what will happen if they locate us."

"Why can't things just go our way for once?" Bela asked as she stood up to head back the way she came.

"Do you want the philosophical answer to that, or the spur-of-the-moment one?" Kevin asked jokingly. He too was backtracking at a speedy pace.

"Kevin, why do you _always_ have to say something when I'm speaking out of disdain for our problems?" Bela asked again.

"You get used to it," Ralik stated.

"Do you want the philosophical answer to that or the-" Kevin grinned as he spoke, but was cut off.

"Shut up!" Bela interrupted as she slapped the side of Kevin's helmet.

The team mutually agreed to turn into one of the rooms they bypassed earlier, and they looked for one that wasn't lit up. They ducked into the first one they came across, which was a doorless room that was pitch black inside. They hid directly inside, but fearing that the search squad would peek just inside the threshold and see them all, they opted to move into the room and find something – anything – to hide behind. With personal lights on, they were able to see that the room, down a slight ramp right after the door, was littered with strange and large containers spaced out as if on a grid. With no time to lose, everyone quickly moved in and found a container to obscure themselves with. The plan was a good one – some of the geth team had broken off and stepped into the doorway they had just filed through. They stood there a while, likely attempting to detect thermal signatures or movement. Seeing that there was nothing there for them to detect, the geth eventually moved on and the team breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Each broke out of their hiding spot one at a time by illuminating their immediate spot with their omni-tool-based light. After a minute or two, they all congregated back together at the center of the room. Kevin shone his light around him as he walked to the group to get a better idea of his surroundings. Conversations had already started without him.

"Should we keep moving?" Riik asked.

"No, we don't want to expose ourselves just yet," Tyr replied. "We'll lay low a few minutes and hopefully give the search teams reason to believe we're not here anymore."

"Where are we?" Arla inquired of the group.

"Get this," Ralik said. "Remember that room at the center full of unknown equipment? That wasn't the room we saw on the way in. That's this room right here."

"What weird equipment?" Tosh asked.

"Hey guys," Kevin called out from a short ways away, somewhat interrupting the conversation. "Any idea what these container-like things for?"

Everyone looked in his direction to see him shining his light up at one of the containers. It was now clear that they weren't large storage crates, vats, or anything of the like. They had huge, rounded backsides, flat tops, and a concave front side with a smaller rounded extrusion in the middle of the front. They reminded Kevin of cryo-stasis holding cells he learned about while researching a target a few years back, but these clearly had no cryo-based technology involved. They were arranged side-by-side into long rows of somewhere near 20 each, and each in a row had a second across the 'aisle' facing back. Curious, the human stepped up the short ramp of the one he was currently investigating to see if there was any indication of what was inside on or around the extrusion. Likewise, some of the other members of the team did as well.

There was a small window hardly taller than Kevin's face, and it was only slightly wider. He looked in to see if there was anything to be seen, but all he saw was black darkness. Bela, one container to Kevin's right, shown her light into the window. Immediately following that, the shrill screech of the short quarian filled the room and reverberated several times before it finally died. She backed away, momentarily terrorized from what she saw.

Tyr ran over, "What? What is it, Merni?"

"K-K-Keelah. N-No way!" Bela muttered as she stared at the container and gathered her composure.

Kevin, fueled even more by morbid curiosity now than he was before, shone his light into the container, and he was greeted by the familiar reflection of light off of a quarian's visor. "What. . ." He looked around to see if he could find an 'open' button, only then realizing that geth would never need such a thing. "Tosh! Can we get one of these open?"

Tosh looked to Bela, who was only now standing straight up again. "I can give it a shot. No guarantee we won't alert them, though."

"I think this might be important enough to take that risk," the human replied. His tone was coated in dire seriousness. For those that knew Kevin, that meant something big.

"Alright," Tosh replied after a deep sigh. The savvy quarian tapped away at his commands, looking up at the container once in a while. After a few moments, he made one final, exaggerated tap and then looked at the container Kevin was slowly giving room to. There was no hiss, no lights, no gurgles or roars. The extrusion on the front lifted from the bottom as though it was hinged at the top. All lights focused in on the subject within, and Kevin's hesitant and morbid suspicions were confirmed.

It was a quarian exosuit.

". . . My God," Kevin said, shaking his head.

Tosh froze. Bela shuddered. Arla recoiled. Ralik tilted his head. Riik and Tyr brought fisted hands to their chins in thought. The sight was more than just disturbing, it was chilling. It stiffly rested in place against a flat, moderately back-tilted metal bed. There were no hooks keeping it up or straps holding it in place, yet it didn't slump or slide. Something was inside, filling it out. It had all of the things one would usually expect to see on a non-military quarian, including knickknacks, clan colored cloths, and tubes and wires. The suit itself looked dated, though. It was bulkier in a way that described a less efficient model.

"That's a three-generation-old suit," Tosh said, breaking the shocked silence. "Looks around twenty years old."

Riik leaned in. "And those are Harruth clan colors. I knew some from the clan."

"Do. . . Do you guys think this is an actual quarian?" Bela asked.

"His omni-tool ID still works. Let me run an archive search," Tyr said. After a few moments of watching the projected screen, Tyr stiffened up. "Mel'Harruth vas Dyrin nar Joreek, Ship Filter Engineer, died 2161 when his suit's filters failed during a bad outbreak on the ship. Probably while he was fixing a ship filter problem."

Other containers were opened up to verify the idea that all of them held suits like this one did. It seemed to be the case, as each one held a unique quarian suit that belonged to one of their dead.

"How would the geth get ahold of your deceased?" Kevin questioned fervently.

"We space our dead," Arla explained. "We cannot afford the space to keep our dead in the flotilla, so we space them during a mournful ceremony."

Ralik tapped his chin. "But with their suits on? You guys don't use the suit later? I mean no offense, it just seems something a people would do in your race's current situation."

"You forget the emphasis our people place on ancestry," Tyr wisely noted. "There are a lot of traditions surrounding death, especially since our exile. We space our dead in the direction of our homeworld for two reasons. One is that so they can join our current ancestors in watching over it, and the second is so that we might have a chance of finding the caskets later when we retake the homeworld to give them a more proper burial ceremony. To remove the suit would be an insult to the individual. Almost like stripping them of honor. Besides, no one would want to use the suit of a dead quarian – it's a little rough on the mind, don't you agree?"

"Alright, alright, alright," Kevin said, hands up. He turned towards the suit in the open container and stepped up to it. "So you jettison your dead into the Perseus Veil. Why bring them here? Why collect them _at all_? I can't think of any reason the geth might have for doing such a thing. I mean, it's not like they have sentiments for the dead, right?"

"It _is_ curious," Tosh said, stumped. "I can't even think of a processing error that might lead to. . ." He threw his hands out to his sides, gesturing to all of the containers in the room. "To _this._"

"I wonder what they fill out the suits with," Kevin muttered as he looked into the visor. In order to get a better angle with his light, he put a finger under the chin of the helmet and lifted it up a tad. Suddenly, the 'mouthpiece' light turned on and a pair of ghastly glowing eyes appeared within the helmet. It looked Kevin square in the visor before he literally jumped backwards, startled. "Gyaah! What!"

Weapons were drawn. There was something all wrong about this. The once-dead quarian stepped out of the container and stared down the entire squad. Suddenly, the lights in the room turned on, revealing just how big the room was. This, however, was the least of their worries. Barely a few moments after the lights came on, the sound of opening hatches echoed about the room in staggering quantities. A quick look around confirmed this bad, bad news. Containers all around were opening up, their residents waking. Kevin had one response for this.

"Oh balls."


	33. Chapter 32

_**Chapter 32**_

_"Kar'Welkas. . ."_

Kar woke up to the sounds of a seemingly infinite number of voices whispering his name. These weren't audible whispers, strangely. He somehow knew that these voices were all in his head. He just knew it. Was he going crazy? Had the injection exhausted him so badly that he was hearing his own disjointed thoughts as they woke him up? Either way, it sure made concentrating on opening his eyes to figure out what was going on a lot harder. Everything in his body burned, but it was disconnected. He knew it should've hurt, but it didn't. It was difficult to comprehend, but he found it easier to blame his captain for poisoning him. After some effort, he was able to bring his thoughts together enough to focus on his situation. He was messed up, but he was a Migrant Fleet Marine, and he wasn't about to simply lay down and die.

His eyes creaked open. The light from the haptic adaptive interface screens from the bridge seemed far brighter than he was used to. It pointed out to him that he was experiencing a significant headache. Nevertheless, he forced his eyes open wide to get an idea of how things had changed since his blackout. His first thought was that he was thankful to be alive. His second was that the figure that had attacked him was still on the bridge manipulating the controls of the Kellius. Curiously, the external blue glow from FTL travel was absent. He wondered if they were even moving, since the view outside of the viewports was nothing but empty blackness.

"_Kar'Welkas. . ."_

He reached for his shotgun, first discovering that moving his arms felt. . . Unusual. It was tight, as if his arms had swelled up to the limit that his suit would allow. Not only that, it felt remarkably stiff. Something was keeping his arm from moving the way his brain was accustomed to, as though something was inside it. Lastly, he realized his shotgun was missing, likely removed by his assailant. If he wanted to take the Kellius back, he would have to improvise.

He made his first attempt to stand up as quietly as possible. His advantage of being ignored would be wasted if he brought undue attention. The problem was that most of his body, not just his arms, were similarly stiff and difficult to move. This resulted in his footing not lining up in time, which caused him to lose balance and tilt sideways against the nearest bulkhead. There was a light _klank_ as his helmet tapped the metal, which was more than enough to sound off his presence to the captain. Kar knew he had lost his advantage and he charged her the very moment his footing was sure.

As expected, the being turned her head to observe what had caused the noise and immediately pulled a familiar pistol to defend herself. Fortunately, Kar was already close enough to do something about it before proper aim could be taken. He batted the pistol out of the would-be quarian's hand with surprising strength, but suffered an opposite knee to the chest. A very _solid_ knee to the chest. His natural response was to curl from the impact, but he stepped back into the neck of the ship to prevent it from happening a second time. All the while, he made an effort to keep his eye on his opponent. The time he spent learning hand-to-hand combat training with Arla wasn't a waste after all.

He had a slight moment to notice a change in the way his body behaved. When he first woke, he was stiff and couldn't move very well. Now that he was in a flight or fight situation, things seemed to move faster and with more precision than ever before – even to the point where it was as unnerving as it was refreshing. Unfortunately, his training had been focus on learning the ways of civilized combat, and he was pretty sure that this imposter wasn't going to simply go for the win. This was a fight to the death, and he had to pull from military training for this if he wanted to come out alive.

"_Kar'Welkas. . ."_

Those pestering voices were going to get to him. Eventually. Right now, he had focus, and he wasn't letting go of it. The 'captain' charged him to follow up on his reeling from the knee to the chest, so Kar ducked left behind one of the chairs facing the terminals on the side of the hall. The assaulter had to halt her charge due to the sudden introduction of an obstruction. Since the captain had played right into his strategy, Kar lunged out and swung a fist right at one of the areas not protected by armor – the low abdomen. This is where things got a bit more strange - where he expected a fleshy and soft impact that would send the attacker to the floor, he instead experienced the disconnected pain of cracking his knuckles against what seemed to be segmented metal plating. The captain fell to the floor a couple meters away, sure, but he wasn't going to be punching with that hand again any time soon. While Kar was busy wrapping his head around the fact that he just punched someone nearly two meters clear down the hall, the captain got back up, completely unphased at the dent in her chest. Well, _that _was just a little disheartening.

Kar needed a new plan. Simply punching it to death wasn't going to work, even if he had absurdly enhanced strength. It clearly didn't respond to pain, either. He needed to put it down in one shot somehow. For now, though he tapped wildly on his omni-tool and threw out his combat drone to buy some time to think. For a while, it worked. The combat drone drew the captain's attention long enough for Kar to look for his shotgun, but it was nowhere to be seen. He studied the being for a second as she attempted to fight off the combat drone. Its movement was stiff as well, but not in the sense that it was having trouble moving. That was about all the time he had to study it for, though. After the captain realized that trying to swipe the drone out of the air wasn't working, it unleashed an omni-tool based electrical overload on the little bot. In a blinding flash of arcing electricity and frying hardware, the combat drone fell to pieces on the floor on the spot.

That immediately gave Kar an idea. If the attacker under the guise of his captain was made of – or at least lined with – metal alloys or other conductive materials, an overload would do more than just fry systems and force a suit reboot. During the time it took him to figure this out, however, the captain made a mad dash for the bridge. Kar wondered why the assailant would suddenly retreat. Unless. . .

"_Kar'Welkas. . . The pistol."_

The pistol! The young quarian's swollen eyes opened wide. He only had enough time to set up the overload, but the imposter would likely get enough shots off to pierce his shields and armor before he could execute it. In a desperate move, he charged the distracted opponent while setting up the overload. As the captain brought the pistol around to fire at him, he ducked under her aim and shoved the heavy body as hard as he could. The tackled quarian staggered backwards until she smacked hard into the back of the helmsman's chair. Like a machine, it recovered again with almost no trouble and brought the pistol to aim on Kar's helmet. . . But it was too late. Kar had bought enough time to finish out an exceptionally overpowered electrical overload command and execute it on the imposter. Electricity burst forth from his omni-tool and then in all directions from the entity as it jerked uncontrollably in place. After the split second lightshow had died off, the scorched quarian fell limp onto the floor with a metallic thud.

"_Kar'Welkas. . ."_

The battle was over. Kar's omni-tool was fried, but the Kellius had been retaken. Kar needed to get it back to the geth structure before he blacked out again. Now that the fight was done, he felt the stiffness returning. The whispers in his head were violently increasing in number the more the Kellius continued to head into dark space. He had to summon extra willpower to get himself into the bridge in order to effect its return to the edge of the galaxy.

"_Your companions are irrelevant. Leave them."_

__"Shut up!" Kar yelled as he struggled to make his way forward.

"_They will be obliterated."_

"_It cannot be averted."_

"_The imminence of their eradication is beyond your ability to_ _control."_

"Don't tell me what I can't do! Get out of my head!" Kar had finally reached the bridge while smacking a fist against the side of his helmet. He looked out of the viewports into the abyss of dark space to see if there was someone messing with his comms, but there was nothing to see. Despite this, he felt a pull – an indescribable and involuntary pull at his left hand. Without his conscious permission, his left hand began to waver over the controls on the haptic interface that would shut down the engines. Terrified, he used the injured right hand he still had control over to bring it back to his side. His thoughts were swirling in an ocean of commands and whispers that went against everything he was trying to accomplish. Just entering the proper commands for the Kellius to backtrack to the structure and settle where it had been sitting was a monumental battle of wills.

"What _are_ you?" Kar cried out to the blackness.

"_We are."_

"What? That doesn't even make sense!"

"_We simply are."_

Kar didn't have time for this. He could almost tangibly feel his sanity being ripped away, and he still had to finish out the flight commands and find some way to keep himself from stopping said commands against his will. A few remaining strained taps secured the Kellius's new direction; all there was left to do now was secure _himself_. He fought wave after wave of incredibly compelling, yet indecipherable suggestions and forced himself out of the bridge.

His steps were heavy. Something was weighing him down, yet there was no equipment on his person that he didn't normally carry. His mind was reduced to one-track thinking, as it was all he was able to maintain. He focused on that to battle this losing fight and make his way to an area where he thought he could do the least harm – the port observation lounge. Once inside, he made the door shut and he called upon Terra to handle the rest.

"Terra! Terra!"

"Yes, Kar'Welkas?"

"Lock this door! Seal it! Lock it so that nothing I could possibly do can open it!"

"Acknowledged. Locking Port Observation Lounge door."

Kar fell down into a sitting position with his knees to his chest against the back of the couch. He wasn't done fighting – not yet. He had to do all he could to make sure that if there was anyone still alive in the geth structure that they'd be notified the moment the Kellius pulled into position. He had to fight, but at least the hardest part was over. He drew in an unsteady breath and prayed to Keelah that he could hold out long enough to see his squadmates again.

**-Elsewhere. . .-**

The rising doors of the opening containers forced the team to back up against each other perpendicular to the aisle in order to keep enough eyes on all sides. Weapons trained down each half bounced back and forth between the left and right sides, vying for a threatening target to unleash their fury at. The problem was, no one knew exactly what they were up against. This whole situation was on the _completely messed up_ end of the spectrum, and that left them with very little insight as to how to handle it. What made matters worse, they began to notice that as the container covers in their particular aisle were nearly fully opened, they could see the containers in _other_ aisles were nearly opened as well. Now they were not only in a screwed up, foreign situation, now they were absurdly outnumbered. They were starting to hope these things didn't have weapons.

"Orders?" Riik nervously barked.

"Hold your fire," Tyr stated all to calmly. "Let's not give them a reason to attack us."

"Are you kidding me?" Riik shot back. Nevertheless, he followed his orders.

In rhythmic sequence, quarian bodies stepped out of their respective holding cells and turned to face the interlopers like programmed mechs. They paused like that, simply staring at the mildly frightened team of organics for at least a minute. Just when Kevin and company were starting to wonder if they might be able to slip out, the zombified collective of supposedly dead quarians emitted the most horrific sound to ever come out of an exo-suit.

The geth stutter.

Just like that, the entire menagerie of bodies began a charge on the compressed group. They didn't hobble, limp, or sway like Kevin had expected, however. They seemed like fully able-bodied quarians charging to punch him in the face. This detail was soon lost over the panic of being completely surrounded by closing hostiles as the ambient noise of hundreds upon hundreds of heavy-footed quarians echoed about the room.

"To the door!" Tyr shouted as he opened fire in the opposite direction Kevin was facing.

Chaos broke free and reigned over the area. All at once, the team lit up the aisle in front of them with small arms fire, doing their best to clear enough of a path to make it to the entrance of that God-forsaken room. Fortunately, the hostile quarians still fell 'dead' if one put enough shots into them, so there was still a chance for them to make it out alive. They had to coordinate volleys so that they wouldn't all have to dump heatsinks at the same time since even the slightest lull in their fire would give way to an unstoppable wave of angry once-dead attackers. The team's forward pace had to be maintained, lest they might have fallen prey to the living wall of hostiles behind them. No one even thought about whether or not they were shooting down their fellow quarians or not. This was a kill or be killed situation as far as they knew, and there was no room for any level of emotional or political input.

At the base of the ramp that led to the hallway, the path cleared out. There were no hostiles that far away from the containers, so they were able to focus on getting out of dodge. That was all well and fine until a small squad of armed geth appeared in the threshold. They were immediately and violently gunned down on the spot as the team of terrified organics fled the room with all haste. They didn't even bother with proper tactical coverage of the hallway once they made it out. They just wanted to get far, far away from those containers. They took a left and sprinted up the hallway they had just finished backtracking through.

Kevin looked back at the door surrounded by shot-up geth bits. A small number of quarians emerged from inside the room and looted the geth of all their weapons and thermal clips. Interestingly, only enough quarians emerged from the room to replace the number of geth that had been shot. This showed that they had some form of intelligence – they knew that pursuing an armed squad without weapons was absolutely illogical. So much for the zombie theory.

They continued down the hall in full tilt, only pausing long enough to eradicate the small groups of geth troops that showed up to combat them. Flying sparks and muzzle flashes illuminated the still dark hallways, causing fierce visual and audio noise that only added to the tension. After a few frantic minutes of getting as far from the center room as possible, the squad realized that they had finally evaded the swarming amalgam of undead quarians. Unfortunately, their position was now compromised, and the hurried firefights in the hallways were becoming alarmingly frequent. They decided that they needed to find a space to bunker down for a couple minutes to get some solid footing and a chance to rebuff their resolve. This need was conveniently filled after a turn of a corner revealed that the hallway opened up into an open room with most of the usable space off to the left. It was loaded with well-spaced unused equipment, likely stored for future use.

Seizing the opportunity, they moved in and rearranged the equipment to function as walls to serve as an on-the-fly bunker. It wasn't perfect, but it was far better than standing in an empty hallway using pipes for cover. There were two directions that they would have to defend from: the corner they rounded to get there and the continuation of the hallway on the opposite side. Riik and Ralik set up on the hallway side to defend, and Kevin and Tosh set up on the corner side. Bela, Tyr, and Arla crouched in the middle to assess their situation.

"Where are we at?" Arla asked Tyr, her voice nearly cracking as she strained to overcome the sounds of combat.

"Not as close as we'd like," Tyr replied likewise volume. "We've got some ways to go to reach the hangar, both assuming that it's not sealed off and that it's in a relatively straight line."

"How long can we withstand these waves?" Bela yelled. Her answer was delayed by the fact that some shots passed over their makeshift barrier, causing falling sparks and flinching all around.

"At the rate they're increasing?" Tyr said after the external combatants were downed. "Half an hour, maybe one. It's only a matter of time before that new biotic class and the prime class get involved."

The combat picked up quickly once more, again reducing the three's conversation to shouting matches. "Merni!" Arla called out. "Go cover for Rolush! Tell him we need his map!"

Bela simply nodded and moved back to tap Tosh on the back. She explained it over the sounds of repeating gunfire while numerous geth pulse rifle shots blasted their temporary walls. Within a few seconds, Tosh turned around and took Bela's spot in the middle. Without being asked, he knelt down, set down his shotgun, and activated his omni-tool map program. A screen appeared for all to see detailing their progress through the structure.

Tosh pointed to some lines and some gaps as he started to explain, "We've covered more than sixty percent of the distance to the hangar, but there's a lot of unknown variables here! We might have to elude these constant geth attacks if we want any chance to close the distance without casualties!"

Casualties. That's not a word they were looking forward to hearing. Unfortunately, no one had time to mull over that.

Kevin could hear the conversation unfolding behind him. He frowned at mention of casualties, but had to concentrate on the waves of hostile synthetic bodies bearing down on them. As he bounced back an forth between targets, occasionally raining blistering hot heat sinks all around the bunker, he could feel an ominous warmth enveloping his mind. Within a few seconds, his peripheral vision was overtaken by non-existent flashing dots and his head was racked with extreme pain. He knew right away what was happening, and it filled him with dread – he was about to have a neural episode. _Not now. . . _He thought to himself. _Not here! _With no way to stave off the disabling attack, he could no longer stay in the fight and he fell to the ground writhing and clutching his helmet.

Tyr shook his head. "Either way, we need to pull out of here! We're going to get boxed in-" He was interrupted by cries of help from behind Tosh.

"I need help up here!" Bela shouted. "Kevin's down!"

"Tosh! Cover!" Arla ordered as she rushed over to Kevin. He was down, but he didn't appear hit. His shields were still displaying as up, yet he was curled up as though he had just taken a devastating blow. She could hear him groaning in pain even over the gunfire, but she had absolutely no idea what was wrong. She knelt beside him and placed her gun down on the ground. She tugged him aside so that Tosh could properly set up while she continued to search for the problem. "Kevin! Kevin! Are you hit? What's wrong?"

There was no reply other the sounds of agony. She still couldn't see any actual damage, yet he was clearly in excruciating pain. She didn't know what to do. She felt. . . She felt entirely helpless. It was one thing to be aware someone was in pain, but it was entirely another to have them completely disabled right in front of her because of it. It brought a lump to her throat, because she knew that there was nothing she could do to ease whatever was ruining him. It got to the point that others were peering over their shoulders at her and Kevin because they were distracted by the disturbing intensity of his pain.

Arla kept frantically searching for a cause while becoming increasingly distressed. "Oh Keelah. . . Kevin! Get up! Come on, I don't know. . . I don't know how to help you!" More loud cracks caused sparks to rain down on them as shots flew wide over the makeshift walls.

"We need another gunner over here!" Riik desperately shouted above the audible chaos.

Arla looked up from Kevin to see that Tyr had joined the firing line with Tosh and Bela while Riik and Ralik's position was in danger of being overrun. This wave was far more intense than the last few, it seemed, and she could hear distortion rockets combusting against the increasingly frail bunker walls. She suddenly felt inconveniently conflicted. She had to go assist Ralik and Riik, but. . . She couldn't bring herself to leave Kevin's side. Assist the squad or. . . Assist the one?

She looked back down to Kevin to see that he had rolled over onto his knees with the face of his visor planted on the floor and hands on his head. He was attempting to get up, but his motions looked strained in a way she had never seen from him before. She laid her right hand on top of his as they continued to grasp at his helmet, and she gave a slight squeeze to reassure him that she was still around. She drew in a deep breath and grabbed her rifle so that she could do what must be done and assist the firing lines to preserve the squad. After all, if the firing lines fell, so too would he."Kevin, please stay down. I'm going to help the others." After one final hesitation, she finally let go of his hands and rose to assist Riik and Ralik.

Kevin could hear everything – all of it caused him torment. He was conscious, though, and he was at least aware of the crippling situation he was putting the squad in; they couldn't move out until he was combat effective. Arla must have figured that they would have no idea how long he'd be in this condition, so they were essentially committing themselves to a battle destined to fail. He wasn't about to let that happen, but he couldn't even move right now, much less assist in the fight. It was depressing, knowing that you were the weakest link in an efficiency-focused squad, even if it was only temporary. He couldn't think about that right now, however. Thinking hurt as much as anything else. There was something, though, that snapped his brain out of its useless state. It broke through the noise of the surrounding battle by going straight through the comms.

_"K-Kellius to. . . To. . . Kellius to the shore party! Co-come in!"_ It was Kar'Welkas, much to Kevin's surprise. He sounded injured, though. As if he was losing sanity due to a loss of blood. And there was heavy breathing as well. Something was wrong._ "Sh-ore party, do you. . . Read. . . Do you read?"_

Kevin's eyes snapped open. The blurry world was sluggishly coming into focus as the immense pain in his head began to recede. "Kevin. . . Kevin to Kellius. Augh. Good God, Kar, we thought you were dead. Where are you?" Kevin noticed the others speedily looking at each other in surprise. It was clear they were listening in.

_"I programmed the. . . Kellius. . . Augh. . . I-"_

"Kar, what's going on? Respond!" Arla said.

_"The ship will dock. . . where it was before! You guys need to hurry, I'm. . . __**powerless to halt the unavoidable. . .**__"_

"What. . ." Kevin wondered aloud. It was almost as if he was forced to say that last line.

"_**We're only going to be swept away, like cosmic dust**_-" The comms cut out at that point.

Kevin's head hurt, but he wasn't incognizant. He knew the Kellius was back in its place and he knew they had to move _now_ if they wanted any chance of making it there before something else went wrong. Thanks to Kar's shocking, yet welcome announcement of his arrival, Kevin's neural episode had ended and was receding. He got up, assault rifle in hand, and moved over to stand between Bela and Tyr while gathering dark energy to himself. It was one of the most messed up feelings he had ever experienced, drawing up dark energy during the downward slope of a neural episode. It felt like he was being cooked from the inside out. Painful, unpleasant, and extremely necessary.

"Cover me!" Kevin barked as his side of the bunker cleared out the last few visible geth from view.

While everyone was surprised to see Kevin up and combat effective this quickly, it didn't stun them enough to keep them from laying down suppressive fire anywhere geth were present. This pressed the remaining geth into cover, allowing Kevin to jump over the bunker wall and sprint towards the corner they themselves rounded not too long ago. Around the corner he saw a whole hallway full of approaching synthetics of various make, each with hostile red-lit lenses and weapons drawn. He was expecting this, however, and didn't even give them the time to take aim before he unleashed the full fury of his dark energy in the form of a powerful biotic shockwave wide enough to fill the hall. Row by row the metal beings were violently undone and sent back down the way they came. When several of his squadmates finally rounded the corner behind him to see his fate, they looked upon a hallway whose floor was coated in a chaotic mess of geth parts and displaced outcroppings from the structure.

"Keelah. How many were there?" Tyr asked.

"Not important," Riik urgently stated, running past everyone. "We're going to be followed the entire way, let's get a move on!"

"Right!" several voices chimed at once. Within the second, the entire team was barreling down the corridor. They held their weapons close to their chests as they ran, getting as much speed as they could without holstering their weapons.

Kevin's vision wasn't done tunneling, and he was constantly fighting his body. He could only guess that the crazy amount of adrenaline coursing through his veins was the only thing keeping him moving. He knew full well that the long, final stretch of hallway was going to be a bloody mess since they didn't have time to take cover, so even as he still fought to push back the final remnants of his neural attack, he prepared more dark energy for use. Luckily, despite his vigorous use of his biotics, it didn't seem to be exacerbating the attack in any way. This was good news for him, as he had never dared experiment with it in the past to find out if such was the case.

When they rounded the final corner and started down the long hallway, they spotted the 'quarians' who had armed themselves with geth weaponry earlier making their way towards the unfinished room where the Kellius supposedly sat. Arla wasted no time whatsoever getting their attention by taking a couple shots with her sniper rifle. One shot was deflected by surprisingly functional shielding and the second placed itself in the side of the head of her target. By the time the rest of them could turn around to take aim with their geth pulse rifles, they were already facing several volleys of fire from the rest of the team. Without any significant cover to block the numerous shots, they were torn to pieces in a matter of seconds amongst showers of sparks and smoke.

Around them, Kevin's hunch was proving true. The many holes along the floor on either side of the corridor were being used as doorways which geth jumped or crawled through. Any unfortunate enough to do so in front of the hustling team was immediately shot down, though any that appeared behind were more or less ignored. As rear-side incoming fire began to threaten the integrity of the squad's various kinetic barriers, Kevin turned around and threw up a sizable and powerful biotic barrier linked to his momentum. True to its nature, the barrier deflected incoming pulse blasts enough to provide the escaping group some mobile cover, enabling them to focus on getting the heck out.

Finally, their destination was close. The squad crowded around the lone door keeping them from their desperate escape. Each turned around and laid down covering fire to give Tosh some time to run his powercycling program. Kevin reinforced his failing barrier with more dark energy – just enough to give them time to make it out the door. This task was made progressively more difficult due to the heightened number of distortion rockets bombarding the other side. Luckily, the door was open in less than a minute and the team backed into the empty, space-exposed room beyond.

Or what they thought empty. Before anyone could even breathe a sigh of relief, they spotted four purple-sheened geth turning to face them, all standing in a row between them and the beautiful, beautiful Kellius. Kevin recognized how bad this situation was instantly, and something in his brain clicked. The disastrous situation around them slowed down substantially, and Kevin watched as his squadmates sluggishly brought their weapons up to fire. Kevin knew from the get-go that this wasn't going to cut it. Even though Bela was prepping her launcher, the squad wouldn't be able to break the geth's shimmering biotic barriers before the ominous synthetics could unleash their dark energy on the escaping team. That would spell certain disaster for sure – based upon what he saw in the research room, four of them could ultimately kill his entire team in one fell swoop by splattering their fragile bodies against the unyielding metal wall behind them.

Kevin had an advantage in thinking time over his squadmates, but not over the geth. He had to act _right now_ if he wanted any chance to survive. Even as he thought that, he could see the lenses in their heads spinning counterclockwise and back, calculating the perfect distance with which to launch a biotic attack. The memories of cabs full of Eclipse soldiers colliding together in a brilliant flash of sparks blinked in his head for a fraction of a second, reminding him of how to handle a situation like this. He threw his right hand out diagonally from him and away from the right side of the geth, launching a powerful and concentrated biotic throw. With his left hand preparing its own dark energy manipulation, he created a miniscule well of energy to curve the biotic throw around so that it would ultimately hit the rightmost geth square in the side.

The hit was dead on, and the impacted geth – whose barrier could not withstand the full biotic force in a concentrated area – violently collided with his comrades one after the other. The four of them skidded away, shooting flickers of heated metal around as the scraped against the floor. Only one of them was actually disabled; the other three were simply knocked down quite messily. This bought the squad more than enough time, however, to rain fire down upon them and deplete their barriers. Bela finished the encounter with an over-the-top explosive let loose from her launcher. The synthetic bodies erupted in a mixture of concussive force and temporary fire, which was quickly snuffed out by the vacuum of space.

Weary of this place, the squad hurried over to the airlock, hoping it wasn't still locked out. Tosh made quick work of accessing the door's controls, and to his relief, was able to open it. Everyone filed inside without a moment's hesitation, and the door shut behind them as geth started to pour through the door on the far side of the room. Tosh overrode the decontamination sequence in favor of getting into their precious ship sooner. Inside, the team fanned out to search for intruder, fearing that it was still around.

It didn't take long. Several quarians visibly and audibly recoiled as they saw the remnants of their captain on the floor, stone still and charred from electrical current. Kevin could see that the shock of actually seeing their captain's fried suit would delay them from keeping up, so he pulled Ralik along with him to find Kar. Time was short, and something was clearly wrong with Kar earlier. Just as the two left the briefing room, Tosh caught up to them with a nod that he had their back.

"Terra, locate Kar'Welkas," Kevin called out.

Terra's tone was as oblivious as ever, "Kar'Welkas is currently sealed in the port observation lounge."

"Sealed?" Tosh asked. "Sealed by whom?"

"Kar'Welkas has ordered his own lockdown for reasons unknown."

Kevin flicked his head toward the stairwell and Ralik took point. He began to prep some dark energy just in case – his military training always had him prepping before any potentially nasty conflict since it could be dissipated without consequence. Tosh referred to his omni-tool, as always, and looked up some information.

"Welkas's vitals are still up, but the readings are all over the place. Additionally, he's got numerous warnings that he's just ignoring, like foreign entity and infection."

Bela showed up behind hem just as they got to the door. "What's going on?"

"We found Kar," Ralik stated with an unusual seriousness. "His situation is unknown. Be ready for anything."

"Who's taking point?" Tosh asked.

"I'll do it," Bela said before anyone else could get a single word in. "Just keep me covered."

Tosh looked to the ceiling, "Terra, unlock this door."

"Acknowledged, Tosh'Rolush. Lockdown removed."

Bela drew in a breath and aimed her gun down before turning into the room. Inside, no one saw Kar immediately, but Kevin noticed the all too familiar shimmer in the air behind the couch. He clenched his fist away from his gun, just in case.

Bela stepped slowly, cautious of the silence in the room."Kar, are you in here? It's alright to come out now. We've taken the Kellius."

"B-Bela? Is that. . . You? "I-I can't. . ." That was Kar's voice coming from behind the couch alright, but it sounded different. There was an extra layer of mechanized modulation in his voice. "I can't stop it!"

Suddenly, a figure that resembled a super-bulky Kar'Welkas jumped up from behind the couch and pushed forth a biotic shockwave right at Bela who in turn shrieked at the sudden ambush. Kevin was waiting for this, though. He focused all of his energy into solidifying a powerful biotic barrier that would absorb and neutralize the shockwave. The impact from the two invisible forces caused a concussive shockwave to explode outwards, knocking everyone off of their feet and reducing the couch to a compressed mess of parts. It wasn't the subtle neutralization Kevin was going for, but it was better than all of them getting blown to bits from the biotics themselves.

Surprisingly, the first back on his feet was Kar. He seemed to pulse with energy – even his face had more than two glowing dots about it. "**Perish,**" Kar calmly demanded before ducking into a calculated charge towards Kevin. Kar wasn't that big of a quarian before, but he was easily nearly triple his normal girth now. Taking this hit as-is wasn't in his best interest, so he threw a strong negative mass effect field on the charging threat to make it harmless. Kar's mass was rendered so negligible, the gravity well ceased to have an effect on him and he started to float off of the floor. The moment he was in arm's reach of Kevin, the human fervently grasped the mad quarian and threw him to the floor. On cue, the rest of the squad laid weight on Kar to immobilize him.

"Don't kill me, please!" Kar shouted. "I. . . I can't control my body anymore! Ugh. . ."

Tosh immediately started running scans with his omni-tool as the rest of the squad finally showed up and rushed over.

"What's going on?" Arla demanded.

"Not now, Lieutenant," Tosh said.

Arla's clenched a fist at how out-of-line Tosh was just then. She was promptly calmed by Kevin's hand on her shoulder and a silent shake of his head.

"Keelah," Tosh muttered. "Millions of them. Little microscopic synthetics, rearranging his very DNA. He's hardly even quarian anymore. He's more a mix of machine and flesh than anything else."

"Make them stop!" Kar yelled as he attempted to thrash. "They're wrong! Make the voices stop, they're all wrong!"

"How do we stop them?" Bela nervously asked.

"Given how quickly they've done all this, there's no time for finesse or procedures," Tosh stated as he stood up and tapped his omni-tool a few more times. "There's only one efficient option." It was no secret what he was about to do – Overload Kar'Welkas.

Bela jumped up and violently pulled Tosh's left arm down. "No way! It's dangerous enough when he's just quarian, won't this kill him with the way he is now?"

"Probably," Ralik interjected. "It's either that or he becomes a thrall of an unknown force. Which would you rather choose for him?"

Bela let go of Tosh's arm, took a step back and shook her head. She trembled at the internal conflict waging within and she hugged herself as she looked away. "Just do it then. I'm not watching."

Tosh looked up at his comrades for a similar approval, even though he knew for a fact that the whole idea of approval in this state of affairs was artificial. Nevertheless, Kevin, Arla, and Ralik nodded in response. Tosh looked back down to poor Kar who was helplessly writhing either out of pain, struggle to be free, or just out of nerves. He stepped back and flicked his head to signal the others to let up. Kevin and the others quickly backed away from Kar, but he didn't get up right away. He looked up to the others with pleading eyes and got half-way up by way of supporting his upper body with his hands on the floor. "Guys, don't. Don't electrocute me! I'll die if you do! Just, please. . . Don't do it!" His voice matched the emotion welling in his eyes.

This caused a pause amongst the squad. The last thing they expected was for him to plead for his life while they were debating this potentially lethal move. Kevin could notice Bela hug herself tighter and Arla clenching fists. Suddenly, everyone was reevaluating the solution they were about to apply. Kevin grit his teeth. The last time he hesitated like this, the intruder got away and caused all this to happen. Not again. Kevin stood from a squat and began to address Tosh. This proved unnecessary, though, as Kar shook his head vehemently and leaned forward to pound his oversized fists on the floor. "No! Guys, that wasn't me! It was. . . Them! If you've got a plan, do it!"

"Tosh, do it!" Kevin shouted as the misshapen quarian stood angrily to his feet. Kar had no time to move, though, as a point-blank grazing blast from a modified pistol stripped him of his kinetic barriers and an arc of electricity connected with him from an omni-tool to his side.

Normally an overload from an omni-tool wasn't particularly life threatenting to organic material. It was no different than being hit by high powered law enforcement tazers through a suit. Kar, however, was no longer simply organics, and he screamed in agony. The arc of electricity danced from head to toe about three times in a second before it ceased, cutting his shriek short and leaving the oversized quarian to fall limp to the floor.

Kevin let go of a breath and holstered his pistol. There was a silent pause amongst them as they all stared at the motionless, deformed body wrapped in a quarian envirosuit stretched to its very limits. Kevin leaned over and nudged Ralik in the side. "Ralik, get us out of here before the geth find a way inside the ship. Our day's been ruined quite enough times already."

Ralik nodded solemnly and removed his helmet as he turned to leave the lounge.

Tosh squatted down next to Kar and looked up to the remaining observers. "Kevin, Riik, Tyr, could you all please help me bring him to the medical bay? His vitals are all flat, but that's likely because his suit needs to reboot. He may not be dead."

The four asked didn't even have to show agreement. They set to work hauling the big body up a deck to the med bay and laid him on the same bed Kevin woke up in after he was placed in his new suit. Tosh checked a few things on his omni-tool before exiting with the rest of the lifting team. Their next stop – the bridge. Bela and Arla remained in the lounge for the time being.

When they arrived, they found that Ralik had crudely shoved the shell of a suit to the side so he could get to the helmsman's chair. Outside the viewports, waves of various geth units were making way towards the ship as it started to crawl away from the edge of the floor. Ralik turned the Kellius to point the nose at the door they were coming through and a cruel smile flashed across his face while geth dodged left and right out of the way. With a few extra taps on the haptics, the Kellius's main cannon fired straight into the door they once exited through, causing a visually impressive collapse of the entire area surrounding the impact, going deep within the structure. The place rocked from additional explosions from within and the geth outside retreated back into the structure any way they could. Vengeance fulfilled, Ralik steered the ship back towards the planet, broke stealth, and blasted away at FTL speeds.

Meanwhile, Tosh, Kevin, Riik, and Tyr had hauled the body of the late captain into the briefing room and placed it on the table face up. Kevin, the person who was the closest to the body after it was laid down, inspected the charred suit intently. There were several areas where he poked or squeezed at the suit, causing the other quarians in the room to look at each other uncomfortably. After a couple minutes of this, Kevin reached for the front of the helmet. Reactions were immediate.

"Kevin, what in Keelah's name are you doing?" Riik asked furiously as he snatched Kevin's arm back from the suit.

"Yes, explain yourself," Tyr suggested.

"You wish to disrespect the fallen captain?" Tosh asked condescendingly.

"Everyone pipe down," Kevin spat back. "Something tells me that this isn't really the captain, if what we encountered on that geth base was anything to go by." Kevin had suspicions, but he couldn't confirm anything unless he was able to see under the suit in some fashion. "I need to know. We all deserve that much. If nothing is out of the ordinary, I'll leave it be. You have my word."

Arla and Bela stepped into the room at this point, and were visually shocked at the sight before them. Tyr raised a hand to them to let them know that there was nothing to worry about. They had to fight themselves to achieve concurrence, but they did. Tyr nodded to Kevin, and once more he reached for the head of the suit. Using the knowledge Arla passed on to him on how to open the front of his own helmet, he unlatched the captain's and slowly lifted it off. The visor was set aside as all eyes focused on what most expected to be a rotting quarian face.

What they found in its place was far more disturbing.

All remnants of quarian flesh were gone. The inside of the suit was clean and sterile. In place of the captain's body were the meager synthetic parts of the head of a geth unit. Wires and tubes ran here and there, all disappearing down the neck of the suit. There were small lights where a quarian's eyes would normally be, which simulated the slight glow typical of their race. An amalgam of cables ran to the chin of the helmet, which indicated that the geth repurposed the small light at the chin of the helmet to be used as their glowing lens-eye. The reactions of all the onlookers mirrored the same emotion – horrified disgust.

"Satisfied?" Kevin asked as he looked to Riik.

Riik wasn't looking. He had momentarily turned his head away. "Those. . . Those tepka bosh'tets! How? Why?"

Satisfied that his case had been confirmed, Kevin decided to continue. He needed to get the rest of the suit open, but he'd need some help. He certainly wasn't going to ask one of the quarians to do it right now. "Ralik, get back here! I need some help with something!"

After a minute or so, Ralik came trotting back, grumbling. ". . .Always needing something. Kevin, we're set to orbit the-" The salarian interrupted himself and recoiled. "What the. . .?"

"Ralik, I need an extra pair of of hands to help me open this suit more."

"Why not ask one of them? They're all standing right there," Ralik genuinely asked.

Kevin simply turned his head slowly and cocked it to the side to give his friend the most appalled and condemning stare he could possibly give through that helmet of his. Ralik quickly got the point. "Oh. Right. Sorry." The salarian quickly moved to Kevin's side and they spent the better part of ten minutes opening the suit from the neck down to the end of each limb. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad moved back to the medical bay to check on Kar.

What laid before them looked absolutely nothing like a quarian except in silhouette. The suit had been filled out with the entire structure of a barebones geth infiltrator with several modifications. Where the geth parts fell short of filling out the suit perfectly, small plates of metal risen off of the main body structure held the suit out. It was, by all accounts, a geth unit explicitly designed to fit into a deceased quarian's suit.

"Good God. . ." Kevin muttered. "Ralik, what do you make of it?"

"Perplexing in a large number of ways. I'm not keen on geth technology as much as the quarians are. Perhaps we should call one of them up?"

Kevin placed a fist over his chin in thought. He knew this would be particularly distressing to them, but he couldn't get any useful information about this anomaly without their expertise. "Alright." Kevin activated his comms, "Tosh'Rolush?"

_"Yes, Kevin?"_

He sobered up his tone. He wanted to make sure they knew he wasn't taking this lightly. "Could you come to the briefing room? We need your assistance."

There was a slight pause before he responded. _"I'm on my way."_

When he arrived, he started speaking before he was even through the door. "Just tell me that I won't have to handle parts of my old captain."

Kevin shook his head. "You won't. In fact, you'll find there aren't any parts of your old captain to worry about."

Tosh tilted his head at that information as he walked over to the table. "What. . . This is how you found it after opening?"

"Exactly as we found it," Ralik replied.

"It. . . It looks like this geth platform was designed _for_ this suit. Even the smallest details about the shape of the original wearer are accounted for." He paused. "Look, here. Do you see this collection of large components all in the torso? This is extra hardware. It looks like this platform was equipped to house significantly more processes than your typical chassis. Possibly around a thousand."

"What does that mean?" Kevin inquired.

"It most likely means that these platforms were meant to be able to operate at a relatively efficient level of intelligence individually. _Away_ from the geth clusters."

"So every single one of those quarians we encountered on that structure. . ." Kevin thought aloud. "It's like the geth are literally planning on infiltrating the Migrant Fleet. What better way to gain access to a race-exclusive armada than to become that race?"

Tosh frantically activated omni-tool to start some scans and, using his comms, called Tyr and Arla up to the briefing room. "This is bad. So very, very bad."

When Tyr and Arla arrived, Tosh showed them the geth and explained what had just been talked about. Tyr had to go sit down and rest his head in the palm of one of his hands. Arla had both of her hands on the side of her head as she wrapped her mind around this revelation.

"There's something else, too," Tosh said as he turned back to the synthetic on the table. "There are other new pieces here. See in the hands and forearm? This thin spike? It's hollow, like a syringe. It appears designed to dart out of the hand and inject something, like an insect's stinger. I'm still confirming the data with some redundant scans, but it looks like the substance it injects is actually a collection of millions and millions of microscopic machines. They're the very same ones that Kar'Welkas was infected with."

"Oh crap," Kevin let out. "So all that controlled behavior. . ."

"Someone or some_thing_ is planning a nasty inside job for the Migrant Fleet," Ralik finalized.

"Oh Keelah. . ." Arla said with a shake of the head. "We need to get back and warn the Migrant Fleet! This is a serious threat to the entire flotilla!"

"We can't," Tyr stated, frustrated.

Arla looked straight at Tyr. "What? Why not?"

"There's no return relay, lieutenant. We _have _no way of getting back. Not to warn the flotilla, not to visit the Citadel, not even to get more fuel or food!"

Arla went completely silent.

"You didn't know?" Kevin asked calmly.

"I. . . I hadn't thought about it. There's always a return relay at the drop zone." Her voice continued to lose potency the more she spoke until it sounded downright depressed.

"What about the others?" Tyr asked.

"We'll just have to tell them outright," Tosh suggested.

"Get to it, private," Tyr ordered. The usual authoritative fire that made his orders so compelling had since abandoned him. Tosh nodded at hurried off nonetheless.

"What do we do about this thing?" Ralik said with a gesture towards the geth on the table.

"I'm not sure," Tyr said, leaning on the table with both hands. "The geth here are so. . . Different. It's almost like they're an entirely new data cluster only based off of the geth we're familiar with. Something's had a massive influence on how they think, strategize, and behave. We need to find out what did it and how for our own good."

Kevin stroked the chin of his helmet. "Let's focus on grounding our feet again, assuming that cluster of geth don't come to murder us in our sleep for putting their plans behind schedule for a year or so. Once we're settled again, we'll think about investigative recon."

"Good idea," Tyr said with a nod. He looked up and began to address everyone still around. "Go grab a meal and get some sleep, if you can. We'll land at the camp early in the morning to continue research and investigations on the surface."

Nods displayed unspoken agreement all around and the team left for the door to the hallway. In a fashion so typical that he himself was becoming aware of its predictability, Kevin hesitated on his way out to get another long look at the mess on the briefing table. He couldn't shake the feeling that Tyr was right – something was changing the geth out here on the edge of dark space. They almost seemed to enjoy how unsettled his team got when faced down with hundreds of deceased quarians. As far as he understood, synthetics shouldn't get enjoyment from such a thing. As he focused on the non-body, he heard a voice calling his name, but the words didn't really register in his mind the first time.

"Kevin, come to bed," Arla quietly implored. It seemed she found his behavior as predictable as he did. The nature of the request shook Kevin from his stupor.

"Wait, what?"

"I said, please go to bed. You used your biotics quite a bit today. I know you're exhausted."

Kevin shook his head to get his brain straight. He _must_ have been exhausted in order to misinterpret a statement like that. "Right. Sleep." He paused and swayed. "I need a full belly first."

"The others are heading to the mess as well. I'll meet you there." She promptly exited and the door shut behind her. Faced again with the shrill silence of the briefing room, Kevin drew in a breath. It'd take a while for him to take in all that had happened today. On top of everything, his hatred for the geth was now supplemented by an urgent galactic need to be rid of these hellish synthetics. _Easy there, man,_ Kevin thought. _You'll get your chance._ Kevin let go of that held breath and headed for the door. He couldn't fight anything while hungry and tired.


	34. Chapter 33

_**Chapter 33**_

The morning after the team had returned to the yet unnamed planet, Ralik landed the Kellius in its usual spot and was pleasantly surprised to see that their 'locked down' camp hadn't been disturbed in the least. He and Riik were the only ones awake at the time, so they went out to bring the base back to operational status. A few hours later, they were joined by everyone except for Tyr, who was working on a report in the crew quarters, and the usual two – Kevin and Arla. No one seemed to notice, however, as they were all intentionally distracting themselves with some work to try and ease the mind away from the unbelievable events that occurred within the past day. Perhaps this would have been easier to do if the scientifically curious pair weren't prattling on about it the whole time they were working.

"Ralik, what did you make of the nanotechnology embedded in the infiltration unit?" Tosh asked as he paused his work to concentrate on his train on thought.

"I looked at some samples while everyone slept," the eager salarian replied. "Exceedingly alien in design, like nothing I've ever seen before."

"I'll want to look at those samples later. What did you find?"

"Terrifying, yet fascinating. As near as I can tell, they're purposely designed to function like a virus. Alone, these little machines sit dormant. Once organic tissue is placed in proximity, they attack it furiously, modifying the DNA within by unknown means then replicate themselves off of the newly adapted cells. Each DNA modification makes the cells more and more. . . synthetic. They might possibly be nanofactories that build synthetic material on the cells, but it happens too fast for me to make anything but an inference."

"Speaking of synthetics," Tosh said, derailing the conversation in favor of direct relevance, "Kar's suit finally came back online this morning. He's alive, but he appears to be in a comatose-like state. His body might be trying to account for and repair damage done to vital organs."

"How long do you estimate he was infected for?"

"It was difficult to tell due to all the modification to his body, but from the meager data I had actually gathered, he seemed to be infected for no more than three hours."

"That much alteration in three hours?" Ralik said, amazed and horrified at the same time. "Think of what damage that could do to one of your homeships if they got infected."

"Don't remind me, Ralik. I know we stalled them for a while, but they won't sit content here beyond the edge of the galaxy forever."

"But at least they have the same logistical problem of returning like we do."

Bela cleared her throat. "SO. . . I notice Kevin and Arla still aren't out here. What's up with that?"

Tosh and Ralik stopped and stared at Bela and her obvious attempt to change the subject. They looked back at each other and shrugged at the same time, silently agreeing to postpone their discussion until they could have it without sensitive ears. "They're having training sessions like they always do, Bela. This is nothing new," Tosh stated.

"Hmm. Maybe, maybe not," she said, falsely disinterested.

"You imply they're doing something else," Ralik said.

"Well yeah. I mean they can't really be running tech and combat lessons the _entire_ time. Minds wander and all. . ."

Tosh rolled his eyes and started tapping on his holographic keyboard. "I see where this is going. Bela, you know it's not polite to make such unrefined and baseless accusations. We've talked about this. Pointless gossip, remember?"

"It's not baseless, actually," she replied with a near-audible smirk.

"You mean to tell me you've been in there while they were doing something other than combat training?" Ralik asked with a raised brow.

"Yes. Yes I have."

"I don't know whether I want to see this conversation through to the end," Tosh muttered.

Bela nodded and leaned up onto the terminal she was working on, putting her head through the blue, glowing interface. "Some days back, I went in to let them know that they were being called up to be briefed."

"Uh-huh," Tosh said dismissively.

"When I walked into the club room, I saw them-"

"Combat training?" Ralik finished for her.

"No! Kevin and Arla were. . . Err. . . They were-"

"We were what?" Kevin asked as he, Arla, and Tyr pushed the tent entryway flaps aside and walked in.

Bela fell back off of her terminal, nearly failing to land on her feet. She tangled her fingers behind her back as she regained herself and looked awkwardly at the entering trio. "Uh. . . Just doing your usual morning routine! Combat training and all that!"

Kevin and Arla looked at each other, suspicious. "Okaaaay. . ."

"Bela, are you telling stories again?" Arla asked, hand on hip. She caught a glimpse of Tosh nodding his head while staring at his screen.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, really, heh," Bela continued to tangle her fingers behind her back as if it wasn't obvious.

"Keelah, you're such a child sometimes!" Arla shot out, only marginally upset. "I thought maatfel Kiru'Yeland taught you about the harsh reality of spreading rumors back on the Neema."

"Old habits die hard, Tavval, you know that! He wasn't my maatfel anyways."

"Listen up, team," Tyr jumped in, halting this nonsense. "Our new priority is to discover possible ulterior motives for the geth gathering on this planet. Research on the planet itself will continue only as long as we don't have new data to research as far as the geth go."

"How do you propose we go about finding said data?" Tosh asked.

"We'll have to go on what little evidence we have. Right now, our best bet is to search out the source of those odd signals centered around the mountain range to the northeast. That's all we have to go on at this time. Votis, Rolush, Dolannus, Folner, we're going on a field trip."

"To the mountain range?" Kevin asked.

"Underneath, actually. I looked over the geographical data that you and the lieutenant collected for that area. It appears there are cavern entrances at the base of those mountains dotting the entire perimeter about eight kilometers apart. We'll take the Skimmer over and reconnoiter."

"And us?" Bela asked, also gesturing to Arla.

"Keep the camp secure and monitor Welkas. He could wake up at any time, and we don't know if the overload did the trick yet. Are we all clear?" A round of acknowledgments sounded off and the team headed back into the Kellius. The five on the recon mission each grabbed their armaments and one of the five seats on the Skimmer while the remaining two went up a deck. The Skimmer roared to life as Kevin powered it on and the took off at high velocity towards the northeast.

Kevin greatly appreciated Tyr getting everyone focused on work. That was some nasty business back on the geth sphere, enough to mess up a soldier's head. Especially if that soldier came from the Migrant Fleet. The revelation that the geth were planning on inserting themselves into the flotilla to infect quarians from the inside was bad enough, but the fact that they had no real way of communicating that danger with their fleet was even worse. Then there was the question of geth advancement. If the quarians were that far behind the curve out here in the middle of nowhere, how far behind were they compared the main bulk of the geth fleets?

"Kevin!" Tyr shouted, snapping Kevin out of his thoughts.

Kevin zoned back in fast enough to see the pillar of rock he was about to smack into. A hardy leftsided lean got the Skimmer around without incident, though none of his teammates were so hopeful. They all uncurled themselves from the thought of the dooming impact and gripped something tight. _Anything._

Tyr shoved Kevin's shoulder in irritation. "Keep your head in it, Folner! I'm not ending up a smear on the mountainside because you felt like daydreaming about the flowers!"

Kevin apologized and brought them around to the nearest hole in the ground that Tyr had mentioned. The Skimmer was parked out of sight of the open field and the armed squad took a peek at the cave. Immediately, their sights were focused on geth bodies. These were not active geth bodies, though. These infantry units were face-down on the rim of the entrance and it looked like they had been there at least a few weeks before the team had even arrived. There didn't appear to be any physical damage to the units, which only made things stranger. If there was a hostile beast hiding in these caves, it certainly wasn't what killed these geth.

"Looks clear," Riik reported.

Tyr flicked his gun towards the cave. "Dolannus, on point."

Ralik looked back and forth between the cave and Tyr. "Just. . . Just give me a minute or two."

Kevin wasn't up for being stalled by Ralik's unnatural propensity to be mentally unprepared. "I'll take point. Ralik, you cover our backs." Ralik gave Kevin a glance of thanks while Tyr gave Kevin the glance of a soldier bypassing the chain of command. Nevertheless, they moved on.

They noticed a thick bundle of cables that ran from somewhere higher up on the mountain out of sight into the cave along the ceiling. Tyr nudged Tosh to keep an eye on it as they moved down. Inside, the cave was barren of vegetation – a stark contrast to the world just beyond the edge outside. The light from the entrance quickly fell away to pitch-black darkness, and the group used their omni-tools to provide directional light. The floor wasn't natural, as though it had been shaved down to make walking through a much simpler task. The geth never did like inefficiency.

The depth of the cavern didn't seem to end. It wound and turned about, but kept a fairly steady angle of descent. It was quickly becoming obvious that communication with the Kellius was soon to be out of the question, if it wasn't already. Every now and then they'd come across another squad of fallen geth, all face-down and without visible damage. Stalactites and stalagmites that normally would get in the way of the path had been removed, apparently by cutting lasers. Several times the cave branched off into other directions, but the team had unanimously decided to follow the cables to their source.

They had been traveling steadily downward for near an hour by now. Tosh had estimated that they were near two kilometers beneath the surface at this point. Not more than a minute later, the cave branched again, but this time with an interesting difference. Three of the four outward branches had been shaven down to promote travel, and each had an assortment of geth lying face-down on the hard ground. The team took a brief break while they decided on what to do.

"Finally, something worth noting," Kevin grumbled as he sat down on the flat surface of a cut stalagmite. He shivered to shake off the ever so slight tingling feeling he had been experiencing for the past ten minutes or so.

"What's our plan, chief?" Riik asked as he leaned against the wall.

Tyr took a deep breath and let it go nice and steady. "We have two choices here, I suppose. We can stay together or we can split and investigate several meters into each tunnel."

"I vote split," Ralik said. "I'd like to see where these geth were going."

"I'm heading along with the cables, then," Kevin stated. There's bound to be machinery around here somewhere."

"Cables for me," Riik said.

"Me as well," Tosh announced.

"I'm curious about the end of these cables myself," Tyr added. "Let' move then. Keep your weapons and your guard up – something caught these geth with their suits off, let's not make the same mistake."

A round of nods and the team went about their chosen paths. Kevin took point down the tunnel with the cables along the ceiling, nearly tripping over more piles of geth. In fact, there were so many bodies in the opening down the tunnel cluttered by the entrance that they had to walk _on_ the bodies until they bypassed the unmoving clutter. The tunnel had opened up into a large natural room and the whole place was littered with geth bodies.

"Good lord," Kevin said. "They're everywhere."

"Very few of them are adequately armed," Riik noted. "This must have been a project site or something."

"_What happened_ to these geth?" Tosh wondered aloud, adding emphasis to the already burning question.

"Over here, Tosh!" Kevin called out with ample echoes. He was standing by a collection of large equipment that were geth in origin. "The cables run here. I saw these on the valesh'saat. Uplink nodes, right?"

Tosh skipped on over to get a better look with more light. "Correct. This was likely their primary source of communication with the clusters on the surface. This here is a server. I'm going to see if I can tap in and look at some data. Hopefully, we'll get some answers."

As Tosh worked, the others walked around the room to see if there was anything else to be found. Riik had caught up with Kevin and started walking with him as they searched. "Something about this place isn't right," Riik stated warily.

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.

"Look at the way these geth are laid out. Think about all the geth we came across on the way down here. They all fell facing the same direction – the way to the surface. All of these geth were running from something. They can't feel fear, right? So. . ."

"What was so dangerous that they collectively decided to pull out without even closing up shop?" Kevin said, finishing the thought. It sent chills down his spine.

"No good," Tosh called out. "The whole system is fried. It's all blown out due an overwhelming power surge. I'm willing to guess that's what happened to the geth as well."

"But from what?" Tyr questioned.

_"Dolannus to the cable team."_

"What is it, Ralik? This better be important," Kevin replied.

_"You guys. . . You might want to see this. I. . . Uh, I took the second tunnel to the left of yours."_

Everyone in the room looked at each other for a moment before collectively heading out of the room. "We'll be there in a sec. Kevin out."

They made it back to the junction and headed down the tunnel that Ralik had pointed out with weapons at the ready. There were considerably fewer bodies to step over down this tunnel, which made Kevin question all the more what Ralik had found. As they neared a corner, he could actively tell that there was an ambient blueish-white light spilling from the room beyond. Preparing himself for anything, he paused once before rounding the corner before walking in.

Interestingly, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Kevin's jaw dropped. Directly in front of him was Ralik staring off away from the team amongst what looked like a deactivated geth mining operation. The real eye-catcher here, though, was beyond the dropoff right in front of Ralik; a solid sea of blue-white luminescence bathing the entire room in the same color light. There seemed to be an almost intangible mist constantly rising off of the source which generally faded to transparency in a short distance. The room – if it could be called that – stretched on so far that it actually had a horizon, with the sky being replaced by the underside of an upper layer of rock. Intermittently throughout the massive sea, or field, or whatever, were _massive _pillars both of natural and distinctly unnatural origin connecting the floor and ceiling. Small arcs of what appeared to be blue electricity occasionally curled around these pillars before returning to bounce around on the sea of light like a child giddily playing in a field of grass.

"Wow. . ." was all Kevin could muster under his breath, and his squadmates' reactions were largely similar. "Is. . . Is that what I think it is?"

"Confirming," Ralik spoke as he scanned the vista, still in shock. "Yeah, that's element zero. _One hundred percent pure_ element zero."

Tosh shook his head. "Keelah. None of the civilizations in the galaxy, not even the protheans had one-hundred percent pure eezo."

"I suppose this answers the question of the geth's recent foray into expending eezo on infantry," Tyr noted. Despite his continuing objective observance, one could tell that even he was awestruck by the sight before him just based upon the slack way he was holding his rifle. "Look at it all."

Once the shock wore off on Tosh, he was quick to get his favorite tool out. "Whatever was preventing our scans from orbit isn't working now. I can scan the eezo and below, or rather, as far as my omni-tool goes. It's all eezo from here down. Maybe even the core too."

"That can't be right," Ralik said, shaking his head. "Element zero isn't dense enough to create this much gravitational pull."

"Could be that the entire planet's gravity well is artificial – there's a small positive charge running through the entire mass of eezo from the magnetic north pole to the south that's causing it to increase its own mass enough to actually have one. Possibly related to the strong magnetic field?"

Kevin leaned on a small wall of rocks that acted as a natural railing before the dropoff. "So. . . What you're telling me is that we're standing on a planet that by all accounts of physical science shouldn't actually exist?"

Tosh stopped scanning and looked over at Kevin. ". . . Yes."

"Well then thank God for stellar miracles, because I'm rather glad to have this celestial screw-up under my feet."

"Indeed," Tyr muttered.

"We're still left with the question of how the geth died," Riik pointed out.

Ralik and Tosh both put hands over their chins in thought. Ralik walked over to the mining equipment and drew in a breath. "If the geth were actively mining the eezo using these drills and mining lasers, it's very possible they contributed static charge to the eezo itself. Because of how pure it is, it's likely extra sensitive to any changes in charge, and as we all know, such a charge naturally seeks a ground."

"But it _is_ the ground," Riik said.

"Not quite," Tosh replied. "I see where Ralik is going with this. He's saying that the entire eezo mass discharged the static buildup to the only _other _possible ground – the magnetosphere. That's likely why we saw geth bodies throughout the trip. The path of least resistance is through the air in the cave tunnels and up into the sky."

"The upwards lightning," Kevin said, recalling some of the spectacular lightning storms he and Arla saw. They were riddled with a mix of cloud-to-ground and ground-to-cloud strikes.

"Precisely. It's likely the geth had enough time to realize that the electricity was about to discharge into their face but not enough time to get out of the cave."

Kevin then realized what was causing the tingling in his body. There was static charge in the eezo _right then _and his nervous system, along with the eezo nodules throughout,was being affected. It may not have been enough to discharge right then, but he wasn't about to stick around to figure out what that threshold was. "And suddenly," Kevin said, "I don't quite feel like hanging around this cave anymore. Anyone else for heading to the surface?"

"We need to get back to report our findings anyways," Tyr said. "Move out."

Relieved, Kevin anxiously and eagerly led the team to the exit of the cave. They boarded the Skimmer and headed back to the Kellius to see if there was any news on Kar yet. As the vehicle crawled into the loading bay, they crew found no one there to greet them. Ralik and Tosh headed into the camp's lab to see if they could come up with more information regarding the caves while everyone else went up a few decks.

A peek inside the medbay windows showed that Kar was currently alone, now visibly breathing, but still out cold. Kevin stepped into the briefing room to see if the two left behind were there. He saw them casually talking away in the bridge with renders of the current system smothered in lines on some of the terminals. Not wanting to interrupt, Kevin took a seat at the table and brought up another render of the solar system up over the table. However, sitting in relative silence as he was, he found it harder and harder to ignore the chattering girls in the bridge.

"What do you think linking suit environments is like?" Bela asked.

"I wish I knew," Arla said. "I don't think there's any quarians out there who'd want to link with me anyways."

"That's because you have a tendency to kick any potential suit-linkers in the groin." They both laughed.

"Hey, if they couldn't avoid _that_ then they probably couldn't handle me anyways. It's my physical litmus test."

"Tavval, your ego's popping out again."

"Ugh, alright, I get it."

"You know. . . Folner's got a suit like ours, and I'm willing to stake some creds that he'd be able to beat your groin punt."

"Bela! Stop that! Keelah, you're going to make it hard for me to train with the guy."

"Hah. For all I know, you two have already had a go at each other. All that 'training time' in the club room. . . Makes for a lot of time to link suit environments. Or body parts."

"I'd be bothered if I didn't know you were trying to get a rise out of me. Not going to happen this time, Merni."

"Is that a challenge, Tavval? Just so you know, I've barely gotten started!"

"Great. I've unleashed the great perverse nightmare known as Bela'Merni vas Kellius," Arla said, almost disinterested.

"At least you know what you're getting into. Speaking of getting into things, how's Kevin feel?"

"Alright, I'm out of here," Arla quickly said, getting up from her chair. "Need to check on Kar." The moment she turned, as Bela was celebrating victory, she spotted Kevin quietly sitting there minding his own business. After _that_ conversation, how was she supposed to just walk by him? She decided to try anyways in hopes he didn't hear.

"Oh, hi Kevin!" Bela blurted out as Arla stepped into the briefing room, blowing her cover. "I don't suppose you heard any of that, did you?"

"Hey Arla, how _do _I feel? I don't suppose you've got any words for her about our 'training sessions', do you?" Kevin turned his head enough to look at Arla and gave her a discrete thumbs up – the more visible alternative to a wink.

She gave a slow nod in agreement and sidled up close to Kevin. "Oh, it's intense. All that moving around. . . I get bruises every time."

"So you two like it rough?"

Kevin gave a sagely nod. "It's mutual. It helps us release our. . . Aggression. Among other things."

Bela huffed. "Well, it's a good thing I know you two aren't. . . Like that. I'd be tempted to join." She started her way towards the briefing room hurriedly, looking to make an exit.

"I don't know Bela, you sure you could handle it?" Arla asked, hanging over the back of Kevin's chair.

Kevin agreed. "I'd be afraid I'd hurt you. Or break you in half. How's your agility? How much can you. . . Bend?"

It seemed like they had actually gotten the upper hand – Bela failed to retort. She simply continued on her way towards the doors, looking a little miffed in her movements. As she passed them, Kevin reached out and gave Bela a good game slap on the butt. She jumped.

"Hey!" Bela and Arla shouted at once.

"What?" Kevin asked, arms up. "Too far?"

The girls simply exchanged looks and eye-based daggers before Bela finally made her exit.

"Uh oh, did I actually manage to piss her off?" Kevin said as he pivoted the chair to face Arla's general direction.

She lifted herself off of the chair as it pivoted. "Probably, but you know her. It's temporary. She's just not used to be being one-upped like that. Or tag teamed. Great job by the way, ganging up on a little girl like that."

Kevin shook his head at the short joke. "Do I really give you bruises?"

"At first. I wasn't all that accustomed to taking hits back then, mind you."

"Not so much now. You're good enough to give _me_ bruises from time to time. So is that how you two spent your entire time here? Talking about quarian foreplay?"

"No, no. We got bored staring at the star system monitor. I made the mistake of letting _her_ start a conversation."

"Must be rough if all you can do to show affection is link suits," Kevin said, kicking his feet up on the table.

"Oh, that's not _all_ we can do. It's just all we can do with some relative safety. Linking suit environments shows the highest level of trust and it still keeps us somewhat safe from major infection. We still get a little sick, though. But yes, it's one of the more. . . intimate things we can do."

Kevin crossed his arms. "So that's why Nor dodged the question when I asked her."

"What?"

"Nor. When we were faced with the situation of the life support systems failing in our disabled ship, she mentioned linking suit environments because my hardsuit wasn't designed to be a long term life support device. Said it'd help my chances of lasting long enough for rescue. She got all bashful about it when I asked for details. I didn't press the issue as I figured it was just a touchy subject. Huh. How literal."

"Is that so."

"Yeah." There was a moment of awkward silence. The conversation had run its course and neither had anything else to say on the subject. Kevin switched gears to something a little less emotional. "So are we having a meeting or something to discuss our findings? I figure you girls had a reason for looking at that render of the system."

"Ah, right. Tyr didn't say anything about a briefing?"

"He mentioned making a report, but. . . What the heck, I'll call him up."

"I'll try to get Bela back in here as well. We do actually have things to report."

They called everyone to the briefing room to share their data and within the minute, all but Kar had assembled. Tyr's team went first, describing the unthinkably massive chamber a couple kilometers down that they estimated went all the way around the planet. They talked about the absurdly pure eezo just lying in there as well as the geth mining setup with the plethora of fried bodies. Arla and Bela could hardly believe the report, insisting they were making stories up to enhance a boring trip. Not surprising. Once the guys were done with their presentation, it was the girls' turn.

Bela stood up and switched the hologram hovering over the table to the one she and Arla had been monitoring. It was coated in a mess of lines tracking ship movements around the system. "Since I had some time, I decided to watch the movements of the geth in case they were getting aggressive due to our incursion. This map here shows an hour before we left for the geth sphere." She switched the hologram to show one with roughly half the lines spread around. "This is one about an hour after we had been discovered." She switched it one last time, showing only about four or five lines left. "And this is ten minutes ago. As you can see, geth activity has decreased by a whole lot. Nearly ninety percent."

Arla continued. "We think the geth have recalled all of the mining vessels to help with reparations. Either that or they're actively limiting liabilities they send out because they haven't fully assessed how much of a threat we are. They're going to have a tough time repairing that structure after Ralik hit the inside with the main cannon, though. Good work on that."

"I aim to please. And kill. Mostly the first one," Ralik stated.

"That's good news," Kevin said, leaning in. "At least we won't have to worry about them murdering us in our sleep. Interesting that the geth in the valley next door haven't bothered with us either. I wonder why."

"The collection of anomalous readings Welkas picked up when we first arrived blankets that entire area. . ." Tosh pointed out. "It could have something to do with that. We won't know until we get some recon in there to study the readings from inside the affected field. I can throw together a device that can be dropped in the field by said recon team to get far better data than anything we're getting from the ship sensors."

"Good idea, Rolush," Tyr said, looking off to the side. "We need a small recon team to make the drop. I don't suppose I even have to ask for voluntee-"

Kevin stepped over to Arla and pulled her to his side in an overly dramatic one-armed hug. "Don't worry, chief, we'll take care of this! Heck, we'll even scout the edge of the geth cluster on foot if necessary."

"Let's not push our luck, Folner," Arla grumbled as she strained to break free.

Tyr nodded. "I'm not opposed to you two investigating. I trust you can handle yourselves well enough, but exercise caution nonetheless, clear? The rest of us will stay here and work on more of the research. I'll monitor Kar's health remotely and alert everyone if anything changes."

With the plan understood and laid out, the team broke to their respective areas. Kevin and Arla prepped their gear and weapons before heading down to the cargo bay with everyone else. They hopped into the Skimmer and turned it on with little hesitation. It almost seemed to the others as if they couldn't wait to get out on the Skimmer again, what with the enthusiasm, the chuckling, and the speed at which they were already heading out the loading ramp.

"Hey, stop!" Tosh shouted at them from the top of the loading ramp.

Kevin paused the Skimmer's movement and turned it to face Tosh. "What?"

"Where are you going? Not to survey the energy field without my field reader, I hope."

Kevin and Arla looked at each other then back at Tosh. Arla shook her head. "Of course not. We're going to scout a way over the mountain while you build it. Let us know when it's done, alright?" Before Tosh could get another word in, they turned and flew off to the northeast. Ralik walked up next to Tosh from the cargo bay and crossed his arms.

"Sometimes I wonder if assembling that vehicle was a good idea."

Tosh shook his head and sighed in response before turning around heading to work on his survey device.

Meanwhile, Kevin and Arla were speeding off towards the mountainside. Kevin was happy to be out of the Kellius again, but not because he was sick of the ship. It was more because he needed some time away from all the insanity and reality that was collapsing in on the entire team since they left the An'Ramini Expanse. Complete isolation from the galaxy had forced him to change his plans on how he spent his time here. His mission to get data for Tarsil was already deemed a failure in his eyes, so he was less motivated to gather generic data and more interested in discovery and good times.

It was crushing enough to know that he had only as long to live as their rationed food lasted. It was doubly so to know that they had information that could possibly save the quarian race from certain annihilation, and they had no possible way of getting it to them in time. He needed some time away from all that. He found that flying off on a 'recon mission' with Arla helped him get away just fine. He looked over to Arla just to have a look, something he hadn't done for a while. He stared, watching her hood – held down by her right hand – flap and flow in the wind. She noticed.

"What's wrong?" she asked over the sound of the wind.

"What? Oh, nothing. Just. . . Thinking."

"Are we actually going to scout the mountainside?"

"Sure. I'm guessing we'll find a path over long before Tosh can finish his device anyways."

"Any ideas where to start?"

"I saw an area the Skimmer should be able to hop to near the cave we scouted earlier. I'm going to try there first."

Their brief conversation went silent for the remainder of the trip. When they arrived at the cave entrance, Kevin slowed down and passed by it where he could get a second look. The first remnants of the geth corpses could be seen reflecting the sun from the maw of the cave. Kevin only glanced in once, it was all he needed. Arla took a look down and shook her head.

"Tch. Bosh'tets got what they deserved."

"I'd take you down to see it if I wasn't so worried about getting fried. It's quite the jaw-dropper."

Kevin then brought his attention to the landing on the mountain that he spotted earlier. "Ready for a little fun?" He asked his comrade.

"I suppose. Why, what are you-"

Kevin slammed the accelerator down and the Skimmer took off towards the mountainside at breakneck speeds. Arla let loose a brief squeak as the vehicle left the ground and climbed altitude towards what looked like a craggy rock face. It turned out to be an optical illusion, though, and a relatively flat landing appeared out of the rock face. From there, Kevin found several landings and short paths that he could use to reach the summit. The trees didn't grow very much at this altitude and the ground was rounded as opposed to flat or sharp. Kevin had a thought and he shut the Skimmer down behind a chest-high rock wall. Arla watched him hop out without saying a word, confused as to why they stopped. Kevin climbed the rock wall and laid down on the top, facing the northeast.

"Kevin?" Arla wondered aloud.

"Come on up. Bring your sniper rifle."

She tossed her gun up to him and climbed much the same way he did. She laid down on the rock next to him and looked around. From here, they could see all the way down the other side of the mountain as well as the sizable collection of geth structures and units. There didn't seem to be any movement, at least none they could see from here. Kevin aimed the scope of the rifle down at the shining sea of metal, curious. He searched the edges and bases of the mountain range as well.

"I don't see any thing all that weird down there. Geth uplink nodes, broadcast towers, storage buildings. . . Doesn't look like there's anything that could be causing those readings. Hopefully Tosh's thingamabob can detect location on top of content."

"Kar mentioned that the signals seemed to radiate from the largest mountain. That one over there." Arla nudged Kevin and pointed towards the only peak taller than the one they were currently on.

Kevin changed his focus to the base of the mountain range that sat in the shadow of that tallest peak. "I see a cavern entrance down there. Looks a bit more natural than those other holes in the dirt, like it travels more laterally than going deep underground. It looks like the geth aren't just ignoring it, they're staying the heck away from it. Their movements give it a wide berth. I wonder why."

"Let me see," Arla demanded, holding her hand out for the rifle. Kevin handed it over so she could have a look.

"I think we should start there. First find out if the cave connects to the eezo chasm underneath or not. Then we find out why the geth are avoiding it. It's one thing to not repeat the mining disaster, it's another to keep away from caves because of that. Especially since geth don't have fear."

"There's no weaponized platforms in that cluster. That's why they're avoiding us – these geth aren't equipped to fight a military battle. With so few ships making trips around the system now, I'm guessing they won't get them any time soon, either. We could wipe them out. Right now. Just the two of us."

"Easy on that trigger finger, precious. We don't want to start anything yet, we're just here to figure out what's going on. I'm itching to blow up some synthetics too, but starting a fight down there may destroy our chances of finding the source. We'll have to opt for stealth this time around. I need that again."

Arla reluctantly handed the rifle back to the human. "Fine, fine. How are we getting down there?"

"Looking at that now. . . Crap. I don't see any paths concealed enough to hide the Skimmer. We may have to park it here and climb down. I can see some accessible paths, but it'll be at least an hour and a half climb down, then as much back to get to the Skimmer."

"I already hate this plan."

Kevin handed the sniper rifle back to its rightful owner. "Me too, but there isn't much for alternatives." He sighed and rolled onto his back so that he could let his head dangle backwards over the edge of the wall they rested on.

Arla did likewise after setting the rifle off to the side. "You know, this is nice. We quarians don't really get to look at such a beautiful horizon and know that it could be ours."

"If we can find some way to get the word out, your people could use this place. I don't know any race that could use it more. The turians certainly don't need _another_ dextro-based planet."

"Mmm. If we played our cards right, we could actually start a colony up here."

"If by 'a colony' you mean 'half the Migrant Fleet', then yes, I suppose."

"No, I mean us, here and now. We could learn to plant crops, grow our own food. . . It'd take some adjusting, but we could rough it."

"Well, _you_ could rough it. I'm, well, I'm kind of screwed. I can't really. . ." Kevin's voice depressingly trailed off as that surety of doom forced itself back into his mind.

"Oh. . . Sorry, I didn't mean to. . ." She rolled onto her side to face Kevin and she brought a free hand over to turn his gaze toward hers. "I'm so sorry."

Kevin forced a chuckle. "What are you apologizing for? It's not like you had a hand in my being levo-protein dependent. I'm just a victim of circumstance, I guess. Life sucks sometimes. It just means I'll be out of your hair sooner. Figuratively speaking."

Arla knew Kevin well enough by now to know that the speech he had just given was but a messy cover-up to what was really bothering him. Unfortunately, it bothered her just as much. "But I don't want. . . Kevin, I'd rather you weren't. . . Out of my hair sooner, I mean."

"What?" He sat up.

"You're a great asset to the squad, and you're a boost to morale, not to mention your biotics have saved my life more than once."

Kevin was silent, but he stared at her as if he knew that speech she just gave was a messy cover-up to was really bothering her. He saw her draw in a long breath to say something.

_"Rolush to the scouting party." _

Kevin watched Arla turn her head away as though she were disappointed. He raised a brow, but decided he had to check in. "Folner here. What's going on, Tosh?"

_ "The device is just about ready, kids. Return as soon as you can so we can get this deployed before sunset."_

"Alright, we're on our way." Kevin cut comms and looked to Arla. "Hey, are you alright?"

She turned away once more. "I'm fine. Let's just get back to camp and get that toy of his."

Kevin stared at her for a moment longer then complied. Back in the Skimmer hopping down from landing to landing, Arla tried for a different conversation. "So Folner. . ."

"Yeah?"

"What was all that back in the geth structure?"

"What was what? All that weird tech?"

"No, I mean that moment you suddenly went combat ineffective. I couldn't find a hit on you, or anything wrong for that matter. You like just dropping out of fights?"

"Oh, that. It's. . . Complicated. I'm not sure if I can explain it."

"Give it a try anyways. I need to know in case it happens again."

"God willing, it won't." He drew in a breath, knowing the only way it wouldn't was if he starved first. "Okay. You know how I have biotics, right?" She nodded. "Right. Did you know I'm a natural biotic?" She shook her head this time. "Natural biotics are those that don't need amplifiers to perform significant biotic feats, like asari. Humans, turians, and even krogan I think, need biotic amps in order to do this."

"I'm aware of that much," she said while bringing a hand up to hold her hood in place again.

"So yeah. Human natural biotic. There are only six of us in the galaxy. Comes with problems, though. One is occasional memory loss. Nobody's sure what causes it, and meds don't help. The second is the extremely nasty neural episodes. That's what you saw on the structure."

"What causes something so horrible?"

"It's hard to say. There's no leading research or anything that has this spelled out for us already or anything, so we're running blind with this. If I had to guess, though, I'd blame it on my nervous system."

"Why?"

"As far as I can tell, the human nervous system isn't strong enough to power the eezo nodules inside our bodies enough to get feasible results from our biotics. That's what the amps are for. For us naturals, our nervous system was genetically enhanced in utero to put out as well as handle much more powerful synapses so that we can control eezo at a higher level without amplification. The most significant drawback from this is an occasional overwhelming backlash of nervous system activity. It's like a rubber band getting stretched until it snaps, only it takes a few seconds to kick in."

"It looked like it was a miserable experience. Any long term effects from this?"

"Just one, usually. It's associated with most biotics, but doubly so for us. No one knows how to cure it for naturals."

"Are you going to tell me what it is, or do I have to beg for it?"

"I'd like to see you beg for a change, hah. It's. . . Premature death by neural breakdown."

Arla recoiled slightly. She just couldn't avoid the whole topic of death today. "Keelah, I'm sorry for pressing. I didn't realize it was that bad."

"I'm used to the idea. I think other things are going to get me first out here anyways."

Arla lowered her head. She was done making conversation for now. The last two ended up pointing out how Kevin was going to die an early death and she didn't want to try for three. Much to her relief, however, they were arriving back at camp. Hopefully after this, they could go back to thinking about things other than grisly endings.

Kevin pulled the Skimmer up to the end of the loading ramp where Tosh was waiting. The quarian on the ramp tossed a lighter-than-expected torso sized device with a bunch of scanning modules crudely welded to it. The top was spiked with a myriad of antennae for additional readings as well. The bottom sported four legs which were nothing more than bent metal beams welded in place.

"Make sure to place it on a solid surface!" Tosh shouted over the roar of the Skimmer's idling engines.

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Not in terms of the device. It's already on, so sit it down somewhere in the energy field's range and you're set to go!"

"Alright, thanks!"

"Kevin! One more thing! Those files you wanted unlocked? I've finished unlocking them. Just let me know when you want them!"

Kevin debated delaying the mission in order to take some time to look over those files. This was the first time in two years he's had the opportunity to look at them. He looked over at his passenger who looked back at him and reached for the survey device. "I'll look at them later, Tosh. Thanks a ton for helping me with that!"

Kevin handed the device to Arla and spun around to go back the way they came. The trip back was done so in silence – Arla was too afraid to start up another conversation and Kevin was content to just drive towards the mountain in the light of the waning sun. When they reached the peak they had previously scouted, they set the device down where they had laid earlier. Tosh reported getting strong readings in that position, so they left it there. They linked their omni-tools with the data stream so they could monitor the readings themselves as well.

"Well, I suppose we should kick back to the Kellius for the night," Kevin suggested as he stared into the northeastern sunset over the geth cluster, which was was falling into the shadows of the surrounding mountain range. The sky had taken on warm hues of orange, red, purple, and deep blue, all of which were slowly diminishing the further down the horizon the sun fell.

Arla stood next to Kevin and watched the sunset with him. She didn't answer his suggestion – not yet. Kevin was wondering why, but he didn't feel like pressing it, though the point became clear when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his right forearm.

"It's a beautiful sunset," she said quietly.

Kevin was wary of things getting a little too 'mushy' for his taste, but for the moment, he was alright with it. They both had a lot of things they had to take a step away from, and this was very relaxing. That's just what they needed.

"Someday it'll be yours," he said. "Just have to work for it a bit."

She nodded and the nod fell onto his shoulder. They watched the rest of the sunset quietly, simply enjoying the moment and the company. When the bright orb fell beneath the horizon and the sunset colors patiently gave way to an aurora, they finally broke from their comforting pose. Kevin took a slow breath and turned to look down at the cave he had spotted earlier.

"Okay, quiet time is over. What do you say we go explore that cave now?" he said.

The quarian straightened out her hood. "Shouldn't we be getting back to the Kellius like you suggested?"

"Nah. I'm curious about what's going on down there. That cave has to lead somewhere, right? Besides, I haven't been on a night mission in forever."

Arla paused to weigh the pros and cons of the decision. She looked back towards the Kellius, a faint dot resting on the rolling fields in the distance, then back to Kevin. "Alright, but we should at least report in first."

"Awesome. Let them know we're continuing with our mission. We'll be back in a few hours."

She nodded and did so. The team back at the Kellius wasn't all that enthusiastic about the plan since it was after nightfall, but they also knew they couldn't stop them. After some resistance, they finally let Kevin and Arla get on with their mission.

The two started down the sharp side of the mountain, careful to mentally track their starting place. Using trees, rocks, or each other as balances to keep gravity and momentum from bringing them to the base the hard way, they descended with caution. "Watch your footing. The moving colors of the aurora make tracking edges hard. It's freakin' disorienting," Kevin warned.

Their descent didn't take them quite as long as Kevin had first predicted – only around forty-five minutes. At the base, they had clear line of sight to the geth compound. There was no movement aside from an occasional geth moving from console to console. Like Arla, Kevin noticed that there didn't seem to be any real armaments anywhere. These geth were practically defenseless compared to how ready for combat he and Arla were. Sticking to the plan, the two interlopers made their way along the base of the mountain silently until they reached the cave of interest.

Kevin's initial observations about the cave appearing more natural than the others proved true. In fact, this cave looked more like a fissure in the mountainside than an actual cave. Still, it seemed to go deep enough to warrant exploration. Lights on, the duo entered with curiosity at the front of their minds. Inside, the walls and floor were rough. The ceiling came to a triangular point, and the lack of decent footing continued to solidify Kevin's hunches that the geth hadn't been in here. Arla was running some scans as they trekked, also looking for signs of geth activity.

"It looks like you were right, Folner."

"About what?" he responded with a bit of strain in his voice from crouching under a low-hanging outcropping.

"The geth haven't touched this place. At all. Not a single trace of their materials scuffed on the rocks, no mining or leveling attempts." Each collapsed their weapons and holstered them on their backs. The geth seemed to be the only threat this planet had to offer, and without them to get in the way, they didn't need guns.

"Curious. . . I guess that disproves the idea of the geth being lured here by the signals. It also proves this isn't a mining route like the other cave."

As the duo trekked further into the abyss, the cave's messy nature evened out a bit. Eventually the cave's open space began to shrink and the staggered reverberation of their activity grew stronger. It came down to the point where the once several meter high head clearance was down to only one or two. There was an area where the only way to continue was to squeeze through a waist-high hole in the wall of the cave. The two stopped there for a moment to collect their thoughts, as something had been bothering them.

"Kevin, I've suddenly got a nasty headache, like a painful itch in the back of my head," Arla said while resting a hand on top of her hood.

"Yeah, I've been building one too. Not my usual kind, either. Tosh hasn't said anything about the energy field yet, has he? Detrimental or radiation-based?"

"No, not yet."

"It's probably the tight spacing messing with our heads, then. It'll pass. Hey, check this out. Definitely not natural."

Intrigued enough to shake off the scratching in her head, Arla had a look. It appeared to be a conduit of some kind. A massive pipe made of a strange material with a broken side open enough to show off that it was filled with cables. Whether they were for data or for power, they couldn't tell yet – it seemed to be shielded from scans. "So there _is_ something down here after all. We'll have to bring a terminal next time so we can see if there's data we can tap. If so, we might get some answers."

"I wonder what the source is. It's embedded into the rock pretty well and it heads that way, beyond that crawlspace. I don't suppose you want to go first?"

"And let you get a good long chance to stare at my backside?" She ran a hand down the curve of her right hip to her thigh. "I think not."

"Pfft. I don't need crawlspaces for that. Fine, I'll go first, just keep a gun ready in case something grabs me with its teeth. No fear, right?" Kevin sported a wide grin after that, knowing full well that it would cause her to hesitate about going through the crawlspace at all. Kevin slid his assault rifle in barrel-first and crawled into the natural hole in the wall. He wriggled his way through, stopping every now and again to make sure the quarian behind him was alright.

At the other side of the minute-long crawl, Kevin fell forward and rolled into a large natural chasm. He checked his immediate surrounding and saw nothing coming at him, so he turned around to give Arla a hand. With both of them on the ground and shooting light everywhere, they could see just how big the chasm was, and even then they both expanded the cones of their light to illuminate more. It was easily taller than the Kellius, and about as long and deep. It wasn't empty space entirely, the stalactites here went all the way to the cavern floor to create huge natural pillars. Sticking out of the rock wall across the cave was the obvious outcroppings of some ancient building. Three dark pillars of some sort, crooked in their angle, evenly spaced throughout the wall of the cave. That's where Kevin and Arla focused their attention.

"Wow. All this empty space under a mountain," Kevin said. "That structure over there has to be under the center of it all." He made his way in that direction, taking in the wonder of the entire place.

"Maybe that's where the weird signals are coming from," Arla deduced.

"I don't understand how it gets out beyond the mountain. I'm pretty sure we lost contact with our ship when we headed underground. Maybe we'll figure that out when we find the source."

"_If_ we find it," she reminded him.

When they reached the far side, they found that the crooked pillars didn't simply run up and then stop in mid-air, they turned inward and disappeared into the rock. Kevin knocked on the pillar twice, causing metallic pangs to echo about the room. He did determine, though, that the pillars weren't made of rock. Arla stepped on over to scan it with her omni-tool. After a brief pause, she turned around to look at Kevin.

"I wonder how long this stuff's been here. My omni-tool can't even get a date on this material. It keeps scaling past 'millions of years'."

"Holy crap. It's _that old_?" Kevin looked around. Interestingly, there were holes in the rock face behind the pillars big enough for them to pass through without resistance. Continually compelled to go deeper by an unquenchable curiosity, the duo stepped beyond the rock wall and into the structure.

The inside was, simply put, awe-inspiring. The building was massive in height, length, and depth, though it wasn't exactly one room. Everything in it was to scale, that is, everything in the building seemed scaled up two to three times what they normally saw. Oddly, there didn't seem to be any designated hallways, paths, or rooms. In fact, it reminded Kevin quite a bit of some of the massive factories and refineries he had been to throughout his years as a merc, but with much, much less spatial coherence. It wasn't designed to be aesthetic, it was designed to be efficiently utilized. They spotted more of those huge conduits running neatly from all visible areas to others, eventually converging on one one area and disappearing inside a rectangle-shaped hole. To Kevin, it felt like the empty space he was standing in was more of a convenient off-chance rather than a design element. He wondered what kind of species would build a structure in this fashion, unless they had no reason to be in there to begin with.

"Keelah. This is incredible," Arla half-whispered as they climbed up some conduits to use as paths. They figured that the conduit pipes had to go somewhere.

"Why would somebody build this down here? Do you think whoever built it was trying to stay hidden?"

"It almost seems that way, doesn't it? But then why radiate energies like this to give it away?"

"It's not like the reading we got were typical. They're unknown variants. The only reason we detected them at all was because we were paranoid and scanning everything with absurd detail."

They went quiet as they tried to come up with some logical explanation for all of this. The silence reminded Kevin of his brief asteroid-bound spacewalk, terrifying and deafening at the same time. Arla must have sympathized with him, as she was quickly growing anxious. The silence didn't last, but it wasn't exactly planned to be cut short.

"Whoa WHOA! Holy. . . !" Kevin shouted as he focused his light on an area far behind Arla.

"What? What?" She turned around to search for the cause of his outburst, but there was nothing they hadn't already seen.

"Over on that wall, the one behind you and to the left. . . It looked like it was. . . I don't know, morphing. The wall grew bulbous and was bending in weird directions."

They focused on the area he was talking about, but there was no evidence of such behavior. Arla looked back to Kevin and cocked her head to the side. "Kevin, are you feeling alright?"

"Other than this irritating headache, yeah. Augh, nevermind. Come on, let's look a bit more. I feel like there's something in here worth finding."

The trek continued on uninterrupted for several minutes more. The deeper into the building they went, the more closed in everything became. Kevin started mapping their progress, as it was becoming increasingly easy to lose all sense of direction. The next interruption came when Arla shrieked at something off to their left.

"What is it?" Kevin promptly asked, looking in the direction of her focused light.

"It was right there! I saw. . . The floor was moving as though it were soft and multiple large entities were moving underneath it. A bunch of huge mounds on the floor of that open space there were heading right towards us."

Kevin looked out to where she was pointing. There was nothing to see but a small open space with a walkable, flat floor made of the same alien metal that the rest of the building was made of.

"Now you know how I feel," Kevin said.

"But there was. . . Okay, this place is officially starting to creep me out. Can we head back now?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on, but we probably don't want to find out without some backup." That said, the two started back the way they came in, cautious now for strange happenings and unusual material anomalies. They had only gotten far enough back to step out to where it opened back up before something skittered in the distant shadows created by their lights.

"Kevin, you saw that, right?"

"Yeah, I saw it. Good to know I'm not going crazy yet."

Both of them pulled their weapons out and stood still, listening. Indeed, they could hear something clawing its way around the walls of the area they were standing in. A few more seconds of focusing in on the sound allowed them to locate its approximate location and illuminate it. They only caught a brief glimpse of it as it crawled behind a sizable cylindrical protrusion on the ceiling. It didn't stop there, though. They could hear it continuing to scratch a path around objects out of sight above them. Aiming high, Kevin sighted his assault rifle on an area he thought the creature might appear and flicked his head to alert Arla to do the same.

His instincts were correct, and the creature crawled into a small shaft directly above them where it immediately turned downward to move in close. Kevin wasn't about to waste time trying to figure out if this was a friendly creature or not – it's behavior didn't give them any reason to hold fire. Kevin took a few shots at it and witnessed the impacts. Arla let a couple shots connect as well, but the creature took it all in stride and continued its frenzied approach. The second time Kevin took some shots, he let forth a fully automatic barrage of projectiles. He watched the creature lose its grip on the wall and it started to fall. The two below each jumped to the side to avoid getting squashed, weapons trained to kill on the mass as it crashed to the floor.

"What the crap is that thing?" Kevin asked rhetorically.

Erring on the side of caution, he slowly stepped towards the seemingly lifeless creature and nudged it with his foot to ensure it had been killed. When the thing didn't respond to his foot, he gave it a kick to flip it over so they could get a better look at it. Their weapons didn't lower until after they had processed what they saw. It was an arachnid-like creature, sporting eight limbs. Half of its body was upturned, like if four were meant to be walked on and four were to be used as arms. On the ends of all the limbs were a series of multi-jointed claws. Where the mouth or mandibles normally would have been, the body was unnaturally transformed into a technological cave.

Kevin tilted his head. "What the. . . It. . . It reminds me of a keeper from the citadel, only less boring and without the backpack."

Arla knelt down with one knee next to the creature. "But it's entire body is full of tech. Glowing, blue tech. Like a husk. Isn't that geth technology?"

Kevin felt a shiver go up his spine. "That's what I thought, since they use the dragon's teeth. But wait, I thought you said there hasn't been any geth activity in here whatsoever."

Arla, visually disturbed, slowly looked up from the corpse to Kevin. "There hasn't."

Just then, the sound of mechanical roars echoed all around them. They jumped up, still trying to shake off the implications that had just been presented, and prepared to face off against whatever unknown was about to attack. In the distance, they saw many more of these creatures crawling out of all sorts of spaces, all heading in their direction.

"Holy crap! Back it up a bit! We'll funnel them if we can!" Kevin shouted. Immediately, they headed back towards the more enclosed section they had just been to. It was much easier to deal with a horde of hostiles by funneling them into a killzone. They backtracked just in time, too. When these things wanted something dead, they moved _fast_. With lights keeping the 'creeper keepers' – as Kevin had decided to call them – visible, he and his companion fired away. These buggers were tough as nails, though, and they could take several shots before they went down. With how many there was, the two defenders were forced back time after time, barely getting enough of a look behind them to see if there was a wall that would ruin their day. Things were made considerably worse when there was little cover to hide behind; as it turned out, that cave replacing their mouth served as a beam weapon, and was utilized any time Kevin or Arla were caught without cover. Thank God for ablative plating.

Eventually, they backed themselves into a room of some sort. They were too focused on not getting shredded to bits by claws and not getting cauterized in half by beam weapons to notice how far they got pushed. Fortunately, they saw that the number of beasts were limited, as no new ones had joined the fray in a while. Kevin focused on one in the middle of the horde bunched up in the hallways and he enveloped it in a low-mass effect field, causing it to float. With a second gathering of dark energy aleady in the works, he used a biotic distortion to cause a chain reaction in the low-mass field, which resulted in a powerfully concussive biotic explosion. The force of the explosion crushed the other creepers into the walls and floor, killing them instantly.

Just as they figured they were clear and Arla had turned around to investigate the room, she saw two creepers _right behind Kevin_. Reflexes forced her to gasp in and shout, "Kevin! Look out behind you!" Only after the warning had been issued did she raise her sniper rifle.

Kevin's eyes went wide and his trained reflexes and muscle memory kicked in. First he let go of the handle of his gun. Second, he turned his head to the right to try and locate the enemy. Third, he reached for his knife. Fourth, he juked left, both to get a glimpse of his left flank as well as build momentum. He identified two hostiles during this initial process. One directly behind him, the other, just outside arms length to the left of the first. Furthering the momentum of his spin, he pulled his knife from its sheath and swung it wide around towards the enemy behind him. The knife cut through the 'neck' of his first victim so fast that the thing didn't even shut down right away. It took a planned follow-up kick to jostle the body enough to dislodge the head. Kevin didn't waste a fraction of a second keeping the momentum up. Another spin towards the second enemy landed him right in the middle of all its arms, but they had lashed out with expectation that Kevin would have stopped from getting too close to the abomination. With two of four of its arms extended at Kevin's sides, he swiped up with his knife at its left arm and spun one hundred and eight degrees to come down on the other one. Both limbs were separated from the body. Since Kevin's spinning momentum had finally died while facing away, he took to making very deliberate, aimed stabs at the creature in three locations – the head, the 'chest', and the front of the abdomen. The creature could not withstand the damage and it crumpled to the floor.

Panting, Kevin wiped his blade off on the corpse before sheathing it. He looked over to Arla, who had ceased bothering to raise her rifle. She was staring at him, but he couldn't tell what for. "Arla, what's wrong? Is there more?"

She snapped to. "What? Nothing. I, err. . . Nevermind. It's nothing."

Kevin raised a brow at her, but decided to let it go. Again. She was all sorts of strange today. "Man. How many of those things are in here?" Kevin wondered aloud. He sat down on a conduit pipe nearby to catch his breath. Biotic explosions were very effective, but they were subject to the potential for accidental collateral damage and took a lot of effort to execute due to the need to draw up double the dark energy in a very short time span.

"Hopefully that was all of them," Arla said. She began to walk around to figure out where they ended up. The room was significantly more open than the area they just came through, and it was relatively symmetrical for a change. Perhaps there was something to find here.

While Arla was doing that, Kevin shone his light around the room out of curiosity as well. He found that on the far side of the room was an area that dropped off. He made his way over to the abyss, lit it up, and found that the open area in front of him was circular in design. A large number of conduit pipes ran from around the diameter to the center where a three meter wide pillar rose off the sunken floor. It went about one meter higher than Kevin's head and there was a massive mechanical sphere sitting on top of it.

"Wow," Kevin said, bring Arla's attention over. "What do you suppose that's all about? It almost looks like. . ."

Arla walked next to Kevin and scanned the area with her omni-tool. "Keelah."

"No way."

She nodded. "That's an enclosed mass effect drive core. A huge one, too."

"Why would someone build a huge mass effect drive core under a mountain? That seems pointless."

"Unless it's to do something other than drive a ship." She placed a hand on her chin in thought. "We should get this information back to the others. Whoever built all this had mass effect technology too, but it can't be prothean. Not millions of years ago."

"Agreed. Maybe they had a way back to the galaxy from here. Come on, let's get out of this place before something else happens."

The two took one more look at the ancient mass effect device. Despite how old it was, there was very little evidence of aging. The material hadn't fallen apart or shown any signs of natural decay. The strangeness of the device didn't interest Kevin anymore. Maybe, just maybe, they had found something that could get them back home.


	35. Chapter 34

_**Chapter 34**_

The morning after Kevin and Arla's excursion into the weird of the mountain, the duo called all to the briefing room after breakfast so that the information on the could be shared in proper detail. Both Kevin and Arla fervently contributed to the breakdown of the investigation, making sure that every small detail was covered. The highlights of the debrief included the strange hallucinations, the immense open space within the mountain, the structure found buried there, and the creeper keepers. Though their squadmates were highly intrigued by the events Kevin and Arla described, none of the details alarmed the whole group the way the mention of the huskified keeper-like creatures did. It hit close to home, especially with Kar still in a coma. Once that faded away, they drew their attention to the queer concept of a large mass effect drive core buried deep in a mountain.

"Arla will upload her omni-tool readings to you guys so you can get a look for yourself," Kevin said as he gestured for Arla to do so. "I'm sill puzzled as to why there would even be a core there. Obviously there's nothing that can fly down there."

"Wow, that's massive," Ralik stated. "I've never even seen one that big before. It's a third bigger than a standard dreadnought core. But under a mountain?" He brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Surely there's another use for it."

"Arla thought as much," Kevin replied. "But what?"

"This is a topic that requires further research," Tosh stated. "I'm also interested in these hallucinations you two were describing. They're very abstract. You said you were both experiencing headaches during your time there?"

Kevin and Arla looked at each other, then to Tosh. "Yes," they said simultaneously.

He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers as an idea came to him. "Do you mind if I check something?"

They shrugged. "Go ahead," Kevin said.

Tosh walked around the table and waved his active omni-tool at them once. After a few seconds, some screens popped up over his tool and he tilted his head. "Ralik, can you confirm these readings for me?"

Interested, Ralik sidled up next to Tosh to look at his omni-tool data. "Interesting."

"What?" Kevin and Arla said in tandem.

"Your brain activity is all over the place. The hemispheres are out of sync, too. That would explain the hallucinations, but how did this happen? Did you interact with anything? Technology of some sort, maybe?"

Kevin shook his head. "No, the only thing we interacted with was when we shot all those husks up. They got close to me, but never actually came in direct contact."

"I bet it was the anomalous energy fields," Tosh suggested. "I haven't been able to decipher their makeup or purpose, but they are definitely centered around that mountain."

"Hold on, I recognize some of these patterns," Ralik said, concentrating hard on the readings. "Yes. I definitely recognize some of that neural noise. There's a pattern in there very similar to what we in the STG call "Stimulated Neural Coercion." Diodes are patched onto a subject's head at specific points and fed very precise electrical pulses to alter the brain waves. Essentially, it's used to make the subject very susceptible to suggestions, usually for information mining. It differs in some key areas, but there's no mistaking the overall shape of those patterns. How interesting that it was able to affect you to this degree without any direct contact." Kevin had lost track of whether or not Ralik had even taken a breath.

"Wait a minute. Something was actually messing with our brains?" Kevin asked, quite alarmed.

"That certainly seems to be the case," Ralik said with a sagely nod. "I suspect that if you had spent a few more hours that close to the epicenter, we could plant any idea and you'd believe it unquestionably."

Bela suddenly looked very interested while Arla appeared threatened. "What? Can we get rid of the effects?"

Ralik gave a half-hearted nod. "It _should_ wear off after a day or two of rest out of its range of influence. I'd recommend at least two days before you continue your research of the place. I'd also recommend that anyone heading there spend no more than three hours to be sure that it hasn't reached full effect. I'm not sure what something like that would be doing in a mountain, but I doubt we'd want to find out."

"There's likely a way to shut it off," Tyr said. "Who would leave something like that running without a way to shut it off and conserve energy?"

"Kevin and I saw an exposed conduit in one of the tunnels. We were hoping we could bring a terminal over and patch in to see if there's any ancient active networks. If there is, I'm sure we can find a way to do it."

"A good idea," Tyr agreed, "but as Dolannus suggested, give it a couple days. Until then, you two are not to leave the camp, understood?"

Kevin and Arla drooped, but nodded. There wasn't any sense in arguing over it, it was just an unfortunate circumstance.

"Is there anything else?" Tyr asked of the two.

Kevin shook his head. "No, that's pretty much it. We've covered all the data."

"Then let's get back to work. You two are on monitoring duty in my stead, since you won't be heading anywhere for a while. Dismissed."

As everyone broke to return to their mission's stations Bela made a point to swing by Kevin and Arla. "It's too bad you didn't stay just a little longer. It might have been fun to give you two some interesting ideas. Especially if you'd have believed everything you were told!" She snickered as she passed by, spinning once before leaving the room.

"She's lost it," Kevin stated matter-of-factually.

"Agreed," Arla replied.

They headed on down to the med bay to get some initial readings on Kar's status so they could have somewhere to start in terms of monitoring his vitals. After syncing their omni-tools up to the monitoring stream, they sat down on the other empty bed. Kevin buried his helmet in his hands out of mild despair.

"Gah. How am I going to make it two days stuck in here?"

Arla slapped Kevin on the back a couple times. "The same way we passed the time during the trip here. More training sessions and dance parties."

"Does it ever bother you that the chief – a lower rank in the military – is always giving you orders?"

Arla tilted her head as she formulated her answer. "It did, until I realized that he had more experience in doing so. My promotion to second lieutenant was rather recent, so I haven't had much opportunity to play officer. I told Tyr to continue giving orders as if he were highest on the list for the duration of this mission so that I could better learn how to do it. He seemed impressed with the request and agreed to it. I still have rank authority if I ever need it, but for now, I'm letting him do the strategic work. Next mission, if there ever is one, I'm shouldering the responsibility."

"Huh. I'm not sure that would fly in the human military, but it's your operation, lieutenant. Your call."

"It certainly is. Now then, Kar doesn't look like he'll be going anywhere soon, so what are we training in first?"

Kevin took a moment to think. He wasn't really in the mood for combat or tech training, but he had to keep himself busy somehow. "What about marksmanship training?"

"What? You mean with a sniper rifle?"

"Yeah. I've taken a few shots with one before, but I don't have any formal training, and I could really use some. I figure the best training I could get right now is from the 'personal touch' of Ms. Tavval. Special one on one classroom, and all."

"Hmph. You've already gotten quite a bit of quarian-based training as it is, Folner."

"Pretty please?"

After a quick thought, she shrugged. "Eh, fine. It's not like we have anything better to do. Alright, come with me. I'll get someone to set something up for us in the field outside."

They left for the loading ramp and Arla called Tosh over to request a marksmanship exam using a training drone program he had to reset the targets. It wasn't much effort on his end so Tosh agreed and manufactured the drone that would handle the mock exam. He'd set this up in the past, so he only needed to modify some variables to get things rolling. Kevin grabbed Arla's sniper rifle and followed her around to stand in the shadow of the aft of the Kellius. This was the first time Kevin really got a good look at what she was packing for firepower. It turned out to be a heavily modified Rosenkov M-97 Viper rifle, with the modifications centered around additional stopping power with a shot limit before heat sink ejection reduced from six to three. Recoil was handled by a pricey aftermarket dampener, keeping the kickback comparable to a vanilla Viper. The scope had also been replaced by one with adjustable zoom and potential for thermal imaging – handy for obscured mid-range battles. It looked like she had been etching significant victories over the geth on the stock, including the elimination of the geth homeship.

"Nice mods. How long have you had this rifle?" Kevin asked.

"Long enough to prefer it over newer models. I have it tuned so precisely to my preferences that you'll never find another rifle like it in the galaxy."

"I'll try not to scuff it with my inexperience," he joked.

Arla chuckled and laid down in the leafy grass, gesturing for Kevin to do the same. "You'll start in prone position. Once you can hit targets with some level of accuracy, we'll try crouched."

Kevin complied and looked down the sight of his scope. In the distance, he spotted the drone constructing the last of three targets. They were three different sizes, each representing the silhouette of a target. The largest, on the left, was the shape of a krogan. The middle one had the shape of a typical geth trooper, and the third was a vague, but recognizable representation of a pyjack. At the distance it was, the entire pyjack was just barely larger than the dot at the center of the scope – hitting the head would definitely be a challenge.

"In our military, you become specialized in marksmanship if you can 'disable' all three targets. There's more than shooting things involved if you want to specialize in becoming a sniper, but that would also require lethal headshots to each target within a time limit."

"How the crap do you get a headshot on a pyjack from here?" Kevin asked, figuring the challenge impossible.

"Skill and patience," she replied.

"What are you?"

"Marksman. Missed the headshot to the pyjack on my exam – I took out the right shoulder."

"Ouch. Disappointed?"

"Hardly, it was my first exam. Most people take two to three attempts to get that far."

"Then I guess I'm lucky to have such a skilled instructor," Kevin quipped.

"Hush, and take a shot at the krogan already."

Kevin sighted in on the krogan. At first, he thought it was going to be simple. The size of his target made keeping the crosshair on it easy. The problem was that he wanted to go straight for the headshot, and that was proving more difficult than he anticipated. Too much sway kept him from gaining enough confidence to take a shot. When he finally did, the shot flew wide left of the shoulder.

"Crap."

She leaned in, pushing Kevin slightly. "You're leaning too much on the stock. Your breathing is probably causing too much sway."

"You're creeping me out with how well you just nailed my problem."

"Do you want me to back off and let you figure it out?"

"Now now, did I say that?"

The two spent the next hour or two firing off practice shots at the targets. Kevin, like with a lot of new subjects, grasped the concepts quickly and he was able to ding the pyjack target once or twice. Every once in a while, a few of the others would group around to watch Kevin and Arla practice while cracking jokes about Kevin's wavering aim, the fact that they were lazing about, or how they were pushed up against each other so Arla could get a feel for how her trainee was handling the gun. Eventually, as Kevin got more and more comfortable handling a sniper rifle, his accuracy increased and his hesitations decreased. Patience was one of the foremost lessons Arla strived to pass to her pupil, as well as breathing techniques and ways to focus in on a moving target.

When they moved onto the crouching phase, Kevin was already applying his newfound knowledge to help his aim. The sway was now a permanent issue, since he was now holding the gun against his body instead of relying on the stability of solid ground. The breathing techniques Arla had just taught him helped to resolve the issue, more or less. Just as he was sighting on the pyjack once more, he heard a beep from his omni-tool. It threw off his concentration and he spotted a distant pillar of dirt poof skyward from where his shot landed.

"What was _that_?" Arla cackled.

"Something on my omni-tool distracted me," he replied defensively.

"Oldest excuse in the book, Folner. You need to concentrate harder."

"Gimme a second. I'm going to see what that was." Just as he mentioned doing so, his omni-tool beeped again. This time, Arla noticed hers do it as well. "Huh. It's an alert. It says that Kar is showing signs of brain activity. I think he's waking up." Kevin handed the sniper rifle back to its owner.

"Looks it. Let's go check on him and see how he's feeling." The Viper was collapsed onto its holster on her back as they started back towards the ramp. The others were too busy in their research to notice them head inside.

In the med bay, they could see Kar wearily squirming on the bed. They walked in and each took a side of the bed to watch him from. "Kar? Kar'Welkas vas Kellius, can you hear me?" Kevin asked at the writhing body.

The movement ceased and they spotted Kar's head turn just enough to face Kevin. Two dimly glowing dots appeared, proving that Kar was conscious. "Uhn. . . Kevin?" the mechanized version of Kar's voice asked. The head then turned to get a glimpse of the other towering figure. "Arla? What happened? I remember sending the Kellius back to the geth structure. . ."

"You took one for the team," Arla stated.

"Like a boss," Kevin added while tinkering with his omni-tool. "You had been injected with nanomachines, which began to rewrite your DNA. We had to use an electrical overload on you to stop their progress in your system. We have to figure out if it worked."

"It worked," Kar said with a sigh of relief. "The voices are gone."

"Voices?" Arla asked with a glance to Kevin.

Kar tried to sit up. "Yes. . . there was- Augh." He paused and laid still for a moment. "Everything hurts."

"Your body is half machinery right now," Kevin explained. "Dead machinery. Some medi-gel should help with the pain." He used his omni-tool to tap into Kar's suit and very carefully set up medi-gel release points on each major portion of the quarian's body. He made sure to avoid an overdose. "Is that better?"

"Yeah." Kar tried sitting up again but was unable. Whether his muscles just weren't strong enough or the synthetic parts were getting in the way, they couldn't tell. "Blasted synthetics. . . I can hardly move. Can you guys help me get to the helmsman's seat?"

Arla crossed her arms and leaned back on one leg. "Kar, you just woke up from being comatose due to a massive system invasion coupled with a very acute and damaging remedy. You're body's hardly even quarian anymore. You came within inches of your life, and you want to get in the pilot's seat?"

"I can't stand being on the sidelines, ma'am. I need a job, and this one doesn't require me to. . . move much. I can run monitor duty on the geth if I need to. Besides, that's _my seat_."

Arla looked at Kevin, who shrugged. They both knew that Kar was going to try anyways, regardless of whether or not they helped him. "Alright, let us help you up. Just. . . Be careful and let us know if something feels like it's going to snap."

Kar nodded and struggled to reach for his comrades as they both scooped under his arms to lift him off of the bed. They pulled him upright and he groaned. When his helpers paused due to his apparent pain, he waved them on to continue anyways.

"So what was that about the voices?" Kevin inquired as they continued to support his increased weight.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened – it's still a blur. I saw the captain step onto the ship, but she. . ." Kar's explanation faded into silence as they walked into the briefing room where the very captain he was talking about was wide open and disassembled on the briefing table. "Oh Keelah. What. . ." Arla also turned her head from the sight, but the shock had more or less worn off for her by now.

"Turns out it was a geth," Kevin informed.

"Th-there was a geth in captain Kortel's suit?" Kar asked, mortified.

"It gets worse," Arla added. "On that sphere, there was a massive room filled with geth-inhabited quarian suits, each separated into storage containers. All of whom were long deceased."

"We inferred that the geth were planning on infiltrating the Migrant Fleet posing as these quarians in order to do to the fleet what the captain here did to you."

"Tepka Keelah," Kar said, shaking his head. He didn't want to believe such a story, but the evidence was undeniable. "We have to warn the flotilla,"

"We can't," Arla said.

"I know," Kar responded. "As the pilot, I've been searching for a way back since we got here. There hasn't been any sign of a return relay yet. Did you guys find anything while I was down?"

Arla and Kevin looked to each other before Kevin spoke up. "We're not sure yet. We found. . . _something_ buried deep under a nearby mountain, as well as enough one hundred percent pure eezo to put the entire combination of asari, turian, human, quarian, and salarian fleets to shame with more to spare. _And then some._"

"Something?" Kar wondered.

"Like he said, we're not entirely sure what it is we've found yet," Arla said. At this point, they had made it to the bridge. "We identified what looked to be an enormous mass effect drive core, but everything else is completely alien."

Kevin spun around to lower Kar into his prized seat. "We need to do more research on it, but we've been, ah, _banned_ from going back there for a couple days."

"Why?" was Kar's simple question.

"Something about the anomalous energies that you picked up when we first arrived. It was messing with our minds, literally. We need a few days away for our brains to to properly reset from the experience. I think if we had stayed longer, it could have been. . . bad. I'd rather not find out what would have happened if we'd stayed any longer."

"Sounds like this planet isn't quite what we expected. . ." Kar said. His head turned off to the side, looking a bit upset.

"Not. At. All," Kevin said, aware of the implications.

"We should probably let the others know you're awake," Arla mentioned, changing the subject. "We've been worried sick. We really thought we were going to lose you."

Kevin slapped Kar's shoulder. It was way more solid than it should have been. "Yup, glad to see we didn't lose another of the team. You've got some fight in you, kid."

Kar tensed up from the slap. "Thanks. I guess it's good to know people were actually worried about me."

Kevin fired up his comms. "Kevin to _unrestricted _personnel."

_"Tyr here. What is it?"_

"There's a certain pilot who's awake and waiting to hear from you."

There was an audible sigh of relief. _"Thank goodness. I'll be up in a moment."_

Kevin looked to Kar. "There you go. Company."

"Great," he replied, unsure if he should really be excited. "No doubt I'll have to play twenty questions with Tosh and Ralik soon enough, too."

Kevin nodded and laughed. "You can bank on that. Those two are incorrigible sometimes."

"Take it easy for a while, alright Kar? That's an order," Arla said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes ma'am," Kar replied, sounding relieved.

"In the meantime, we're going to go find something to do. Like pound each other into a pulpy mess," Kevin suggested.

"Try not to kill each other, please," Kar requested. "The chief would never let me live that down."

"No promises," Arla jested elbowing Kevin sharply in the ribs.

Kevin hooked his elbow around hers before she could retract it and pulled her close to attempt a headlock. "Seriously, she's vicious. I might die in there, so come check for my corpse if I don't show up in three hours."

His headlock attempt failed and Arla stepped back with a chuckle. "I am not!" With the play-fighting out of the way, they both decided to leave Kar so he could get a few moments of quiet before the others came up to make his day.

Over in the entertainment room, after their armor was traditionally shed, Kevin stepped up the room's controls on the podium. "So, what will we have today? Atmospheric?" He cycled through some songs from his list to find one that matched his callout. A song with no real rhythm began to play, audibly emulating the sense of abandonment and destruction. Wind was also emulated, adding to the feeling of emptiness.

"That's terrible fight music," Arla scoffed.

"How about something deep and pulsing? Heavy old-school trance, maybe?" A song matching his description started to play and the built-in lightshow controls kicked on. Instead of getting pumped to spar, Arla started dancing instead. Kevin shook his head. "No, too distracting. I can't fight someone who bounces like _that_."

Arla sighed. "We need to have another dance party. I haven't had to break out my coveted moves in a long time. You'd be surprised what a ship full of quarians would do to get the chance to see a group of top-tier dancers."

"I remember Nor saying something about dancers being held in high regard in your culture. I never figured quarians to be into that sort of thing, what with your suits having to be on and all."

"Don't be stupid, we don't pole dance like the asari do. Our cultural dances are more personal than that." She folded her arms. She clearly took pride in what she spoke of.

"You're being vague. Care to explain?"

"Of course. I'm not entirely sure about the origins of the dances or their cultural significance before our exile, but in the Migrant Fleet, dances come in a wide variety of tempos and complexities. They're our way of silently invoking certain emotions that we lost the ability to convey properly when we were forced to live our daily lives in environmental suits. Emphasis is placed on the ability to convey those emotions through performing the dance with accuracy and genuine feeling. The more complex the emotion, the more complex the dance and the harder it is to perfect. Most of them require practice and hours of effort to be done properly. Not everyone has the agility, attention to detail, and body language to do them, so those that can do it are the ones held in high regard."

Kevin blinked at the load of information dropped on him. "Huh, so it really is more than just 'we like dancers'. Do quarians ever regard other species' individuals higher because of their ability to dance?"

"Sometimes. It's a bit hard to put into words, really. I suppose it comes down to how well the emotion is being conveyed through their dance. I've seen some very good non-quarian dancers on my pilgrimage. Groups of them, too."

"Wait, so a group can be considered too? This all seems overly convoluted."

"That's because dancing in human culture is centered more around having fun than anything else, so it's not as intrinsic."

"I'm not sure I agree one hundred percent there, but I'll let it go." He paused to think. "Do you consider me to be a good dancer?"

Her head lolled to one side. "In clubs? Absolutely. In non-club dancing? I've never seen any examples, so I can't really judge you one way or the other."

Kevin paused, wondering if he wanted to go there. What's the worst that could happen? "Bah. Alright then, show me a dance and I'll see if I can perform it."

"Which one?" she asked, looking strangely intrigued.

Kevin leaned over the edge of the podium. "I don't know any of your dances, so you pick one. Something that's not exactly simple, but not master level, either. Keep it reasonable to my skills."

Arla ran some ideas through her head while tapping the light on her helmet's chin. "I have one that might fit your level of pride. It's one of the more complex ones, but not abundantly so. If your ability to move dynamically is anything like what I've seen during our training, you should be able to handle learning this."

"Why do I feel worried _anyways?_" Kevin asked with a shrug. He came back down from the podium while Arla passed on her way up.

"Just need an appropriate tempo. Do you have anything slower than. . ."

"Slower than every song in there? Probably. I don't know. I've lost track of what I've got, since there's so much in there."

"Ah-ha, I know of one. Give me a moment to find it."

"You've been listening to my music, haven't you?" Kevin asked, arms crossed.

"I may have downloaded a couple gigabytes of music. Or five."

"Hey, that music was all. . . 'acquired' fair and square."

"Your point?" she asked slyly. "Found it. This should do just fine. I'll play it first And show you how to do it to allow you time to get a feel for the many possible beats and rhythms we'll end up using." The song she played was one Kevin hadn't heard in a long time. It was part of a song pack that had been given to him by an entertainer that did big name venues. He didn't really know the guy, but he was happy to part with the copied versions for a relatively small sum of credits.

It was definitely slow in tempo, just like she wanted. The song used high end samples to emulate real instruments as was a common deal for musical artists who didn't have a group of players available to them. It was a classic nod back to the days of rock ballads, but it lacked lyrics altogether, letting melody and harmony do the work. In short, it was a classic slow dance song of human origins.

Kevin looked to the ceiling to watch the lights slowly oscillate and pulse. "Huh. I haven't heard this one in quite a while. You dug this up?"

"Yup. It's the perfect tempo for this particular dance. As soon as the intro ends, I'll start."

"Uh, how will that tell me what _I_ need to do?"

"Just mirror my movements. The entire thing is performed this way, and both of our moves need to be in unison. That's one of the main points of this dance – unison in thought and motion. It shows connection between the two involved."

"So it really is the convoluted quarian equivalent of a slow dance."

"Can you handle this or not?" She had to go and appeal to his pride. Now he _had_ to do it. Kevin motioned with his hand for her to continue. When the intro ended she began the dance, occasionally verbally pointing out some details or specifics that the couple would perform. When Kevin had used the word 'convoluted', he couldn't be more correct. The variance in the moves were plentiful, and though she made it look easy with her beautiful degree of fluidity, he had trouble keeping an eye on every move.

He had to shift his perception of the dance to that of a slow motion choreographed melee. As strange as the paradigm shift was, the abstracted dance was easier to follow this way. Foot placement was easier to commit to memory and the smooth, agile motions of her limbs and torso were automatically tracked in his head the same way it would be if he were in a battle. He certainly wouldn't be able to replicate it from watching one demonstration, but it would make performing it step-by-step easier to memorize.

When the song reached the end of its normal course – that is, when it began to start a separate portion of the song before it ended entirely – Arla stopped. She used her omni-tool to control the song from the floor, where she brought it back to the beginning and paused it to give Kevin instruction. The song played at background volume so that they had a rhythm reference, but they didn't follow beat for beat. She taught him a section, allowed him to absorb it by doing it himself, she'd correct his mistakes and he'd try again. It reminded him of ancient martial arts and their demonstrations of controlled motions during their training. They did this for hours until he'd managed to commit each detail of the three and a half minute dance to memory.

Kevin was glad that everyone was busy outside with who-knows-what. He certainly wouldn't be doing this is anyone other than Arla was in the room. It was. . . personal, and a bit too flamboyant for his public taste. For now, though, it was something to keep busy with, a learning experience, and a way to prove to Arla that he could handle their traditional dances, whatever they were like. Sure, he was justifying doing a convoluted slow dance for himself, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the company. He just wasn't going to tell anyone what he was doing.

After he had demonstrated to Arla that he had memorized the moves for now, she started the song over with the intent for them to perform it the way it was meant to be done – as a couple. Kevin checked the door to make sure no one was spying on them and then got into position. The intro ended and they went to it. It was an interesting experience – the entire dance relied on them having some sort of contact at all times, usually hands. It had enough general repetition in it that he didn't have to bring every move out of memory, and the areas he couldn't quite remember could still be handled by following Arla's exact moves until he picked it back up in his mind. Despite this, it still required as much of his attention as he could give just to make sure he matched his partner's every move.

Even more interesting than this was that the very same complex emotions Arla had been describing since the beginning had started to manifest. A oneness in thought and motion gave the distinct feeling of a warm connection to his partner. This was different than the shallow version of 'warm' one normally felt with the kind of dancing he was used to. It was deeply personal – he couldn't, and wouldn't, deny that.

Curious. Since he had made the decision to remain in the suit, he felt mildly disconnected with the world around him. He still felt emotions when things around him demanded them, such as his innate fear of free-floating in empty space, but there was always an indescribable, intangible wall. There were only a few times where that wall had been bypassed since he put on the suit, all of them with Arla. Times such as his last stand on a geth homeship. How fascinating it was that the quarian culture post-exile had harnessed the raw emotional impact power attributed to events and built them into something as abstract as a dance.

When the practiced dance finally reached it's planned conclusion, they both slowed to a stop until they stood facing each other. Kevin was satisfied with how he did; he felt he kept up with Arla at every turn with each detail accounted for. Arla brought a hand up to the side of her helmet and looked away. "You. . . Ah, you did very well. For a human."

"So I did it? The whole thing?" He did his best to appear unaffected by his experience-driven revelation.

She turned to look at him again, clearly distracted, and cleared her throat. "What? Oh. That was only the first half, give or take." She, however, was not nearly as good at masking such things.

"First half? Wow." He sighed. It was tough handling_ that_ much. He was sure he could handle the entire thing eventually, but the had to acquiesce to the idea that dedicated time and effort were needed to pull it off.

Arla trailed off into thought again. This much distraction was definitely not like her. In the background, the bridge between the first and second halves of the song was coming to an end. Kevin didn't want the moment to fall to awkward silence, so he put on his 'wing it' helmet and came up with an idea.

"Alright, now it's my turn to teach you the slow dance used in _my_ culture," he said.

Arla snapped to once again, like a deer in headlights. "Wait, what? I haven't had any time to learn the steps, or. . . Or understand the background information or-"

Kevin cut her panic speech off. "Hey. Trust me, it's the most absurdly simple dance in the galaxy." The second half of the song had already begun by this point, so Kevin stepped in close and wasted no time. The rhythm followed the same beat as the first half, but it was melodically and harmonically different. The bass line and underlying support chords remained the same, so it wasn't necessarily a jarring transition.

"You have two options," he instructed the nervous, yet willing quarian. "You can put your arms here, around my neck, or you can forgo wrapping arms around at all and lay your forearms on my chest, here." She thought for a moment and opted to wrap her arms around his neck. "Alright, my hands go here, on your waste." He had to pull her a little closer, as her natural inclination was to give extra space. Kevin knew that would void the purpose of the dance to begin with, not to mention make it uncomfortable, so he tugged her in.

"Okay, so what sort of steps can we do in _this_ position?" she asked, wary.

"Alright, this is how it goes." He paused to pick up the beat of the song and took a miniscule step diagonally towards her left. "Step here. Just mirror my movements. Now, pivot towards me about thirty degrees."

"Like this?" she asked as she executed her instructions.

"Perfect. Now repeat."

She did so. Kevin continued this step a few more times whereupon she realized that the extent of the instructions had already been given. She began to look around, as if something was missing.

"That's it?" she asked. "That _is_ the most absurdly simple dance in the galaxy, but I don't understand its purpose. . ."

Kevin removed his right hand from her waste and pointed at his eyes. "Up here, Tavval. This is where you focus. The_ point_ of this dance is to be as simple as possible. It frees the mind from concentrating on other things so that you can focus entirely on enjoying the company of your partner. Give it a try."

She did as instructed. At first, she concentrated hard on what she was experiencing as she looked for the truth in his words. It wasn't long, however, before Kevin could feel the tension fall off of her body. Her rigid steps smoothed out, her muscles relaxed and she let go of a long held breath. Lastly, he no longer had to pull her in to keep the proper posture – she had settled against him on her own. _Now_ they were dancing as Kevin had intended.

The song only lasted about another minute and a half before the outro had taken over. Kevin was surprised to hear the light _tink_ of their visors coming into contact with each other. They ignored the fading song and stared into each other's eyes. The last time she looked at him this way was when he was holding the barrier on the geth homeship, but that was because she could actually see his eyes. She couldn't see them right now, but she already knew where to look and she didn't hide it.

Something struck Kevin in the back of his mind. He had forgotten his feelings for Nor. They were completely blanketed by feelings for Arla. Smothered out by a fire that could only consume the spark that he and Nor had. It took very little effort to find that this had been the case for a while now, and he was denying his own feelings in attempts to "protect himself", or so he thought. And now, staring into her returning gaze, he found he couldn't deny it anymore. Maybe it was high time for him to accept it.

_He loved her._

But was now the time to say it? He hated how hesitant these emotions made him. He despised how these emotions turned the logic he constantly relied on to dust. There was nothing logic could tell him right now. Time to get his 'wing it' helmet on again.

"So. . . you know how I can't turn down a challenge, right?" he asked, just loud enough to be heard above the background music.

"Yes. . ."

"I've been challenged by this guy, a real jack-off. Said I wouldn't be able to beat the challenge because of my past. I told him he was probably right, but I never back down from a challenge."

"Did you prove him wrong?" she asked, seemingly unaware of where he was heading.

He stared directly into her eyes again, glad she didn't ask what the challenge was. "I sure did."

"What did you win?"

"You."

Her head lolled to the side. She knew what he was talking about without him saying it. He really wished he could see her face right now. Moments like these required visual feedback, and that blasted helmet was keeping that from him. Now worries of being corny wormed their way into his head. He held it at bay. For now.

"There's one thing I'd never thought I'd have to say to a human," she replied, fairly devoid of emotion.

"What's that?" Kevin asked, preparing himself for a nasty blow.

She drew in a soft breath, weighing her next words carefully. "I think I love you, Kevin." She lowered her head, resting the top of her helmet against the chin of his. She chuckled to herself and shook her head. "_I love you._"

Those words had never been spoken to him in his lifetime. Nor never said them, they were simply implied. Spoken, they had more weight than most words could ever carry. And now he knew it was time for him to say them for once. "I love you too, Arla. I know I've never really showed it, but you mean the world to me."

They stood still in each other's arms for a while longer before the most unexpected noise interrupted their moment, for better or worse. Growling stomachs. It caused Kevin to look to his omni-tool for the current time. To his surprise, it was late. Dinner time late. Where had the day gone?

"I think we should nourish ourselves before we pass out on each other," Arla joked.

"I agree," Kevin said as he broke their embrace.

The two of them gathered their armor and 'got dressed.' Once done, they headed for the door. Flying high on emotions he thought lost to him, Kevin had a grin a mile wide. Now he was glad for the helmet – that's not how he would choose to walk out into the hall like. Outside the entertainment room, they spotted Riik and Tyr helping Kar into the mess hall. Once again, hooray for the automatic poker face.

"There you two are. I was debating checking the cargo bay to make sure the Skimmer was still docked," Tyr said with a laugh. "Come on, Ralik is preparing food for everyone."

"Oh God," Kevin said at that idea.

"Perfect timing," Arla noted.

"I trust you both have been keeping a close eye on geth movements like you were told? Monitoring in the chief's stead and all that?" He sounded like he already knew the irritating answer to that. As Kevin and Arla hesitated a moment to come up with such an answer, he shook his head. "A bit hard to monitor our perimeter when you're locked away doing who-knows-what in that blasted room. Or did you leave all that to serviceman Welkas here in his gloriously top physical condition?"

"Let it go, Votis," Tyr said as they hauled Kar into the mess hall with them. Riik grunted with disappointment.

In the mess, everyone else was already present. Ralik passed out the various foods he had made for his squadmates. Every plate had various piles of different colored mush, except for his.

"I apologize for the lack of presentation," the salarian apologized. "Wanted to be sure you could eat it."

Riik slapped Ralik's shoulder. "This is a lot better than staring at a tube or sealed packet."

"Mmhmm! Appreciate the work, Dolannus!" Bela said enthusiastically.

"I trust you remembered to separate mine?" Kevin wondered.

"Err," Ralik replied, a worried look of confusion on his face.

"Ralik," Kevin said in a rising tone.

"You should know by now I'm kidding, Kevin," he said as he placed a plate in front of him. "I just couldn't _bear_ causing_ you_ to go into anaphylactic shock."

"That makes me feel so much better," Kevin sarcastically mused, smelling his food through olfactory filters.

The 'family dinner' setting, a favorite of all in attendance, was pleasant yet noisy. Some of the attendees must have detected a noticeable change in Kevin and Arla's demeanor to some extent, as they asked questions relating to their very good mood or quipped colored jokes about what went on in the entertainment room. Those were easily dodged with a well-placed red herring, usually in the form of a science or technology question that got Tosh and Ralik to go off on a tangent.

After everyone had finished up, a general consensus to retire for the night had been reached. Kevin went back to his cabin, but he wasn't in the mood to head straight to bed. Today's events wouldn't leave his mind. He paced about his room for a while, replaying it all, letting it sink in. He came to a dreadful realization.

His time left, whether limited by food or by his neural degradation, was going to be considerably shorter than Arla's. Curiously, she knew this and still chose to confess her feelings for him all the same. Part of the problem was that he really didn't know how long he had left. He hadn't taken the time to do the math regarding the rationed food to see how long it'd last for him and Ralik, but he doubted their food stores would last more than two months. This trip wasn't meant to be nearly that long.

Only two months to be with Arla. What a depressing wake-up call. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing.

Kevin needed to get this out of his head. He was never going to get sleep if this mode of thinking was plaguing his mind. He decided he'd take this opportunity to take a look at the locked files that Tosh managed to crack. If nothing, it'd be a decent distraction. He sat down at his terminal and brought up the directory where they sat. They still had their original hashed names, which meant he had to organize them by inferred date himself like the rest.

Just as he randomly lined up one of the middle-listed file to play, he noticed that he had a message waiting for him. The alert was hardly attention-demanding – it was stuffed in a corner and it didn't blink. It was no more than a small exclamation point beside an icon that looked vaguely like a paper envelope, a still used nod back to the old days of paper mail. The message was dated several weeks back, some time after they left the Migrant Fleet. Curious, he opened that before his Cerberus files to read the text-only message.

-INTERNAL MESSAGE RECEIVED-

Kevin. I noticed you're getting awfully buddy-buddy

with a lot of the squad, particularly those higher in rank.

I don't care much for it. I have little issue with you getting

personal with the captain – she can handle herself – but keep

your distance from the lieutenant. As long as your training

remains professional, I'll let it be.

You're a member of the squad now, so I'll exercise restraint.

However, I'll be watching your behavior closely, and if I

ever catch wind of you doing something stupid to our

team, especially the lieutenant, you'll have me to deal with.

I won't be challenging you with my fists, I'll be challenging

you with the barrel of my rifle.

- Riik'Votis of the Migrant Fleet Marines

-INTERNAL MESSAGE END-

Kevin sat back in his chair, a surprised grin spread across his face. "Holy crap! Riik sent me hate-mail?" He laughed quite heartily at the notion, particularly at the irony of the fact that he and 'the lieutenant' had just gotten into a romantic relationship. It was a good thing he hadn't seen this message when it arrived, he might have had to talk to Riik about it. That probably would have ended up causing conflict and unnecessary division amongst the team. He hoped Arla could keep their secret.

After sending the amusing message to the deleted pile, he focused his attention to the file he started to play. Like the others in his collection, the video was unsurprisingly corrupted the same way the others were. The audio played, and it continued to feature the same Irish-accented man as the rest of the logs. Poor guy must have drawn a lot of short straws.

"This is the first personal log of Dr. Liam McRoilie. Date is one year following 'day omega.' These will be my personal logs for me to store information so I can reference them on later dates. These will not be sent back to the project lead as reports. These will be cipher-locked to prevent unauthorized access, and as such, I can be a bit more flexible with my terminology for the sake of personal convenience."

Liam sighed. "About half of the original team has been reassigned to other cells to work on more pressing projects for T.I.M. Those remaining continue to monitor readings on the children as they progress through the Ascension Project. Our proprietary monitoring hardware transfer was a success – the installation of our version, as well as several newly-built and freshly calibrated ones, into the rooms our subjects are boarding in was relatively seamless. We will continue to monitor the feeds remotely for changes. More logs to follow. McRoilie out."

Kevin must have had impressive luck for him to nab the first entry at random. He titled the file with the corresponding number and gave it a short description. He might have been more surprised at Liam's mention of the Illusive Man as the project founder if he hadn't already had that revelation while talking with the man himself. This did confirm to him, though, that the team who began this continued their work after the subjects left the original facility. He also figured that if these files were at the comm relay where he stole them from, then it was likely the Illusive Man had these recordings too. He picked another file at random and played it.

"Personal log, Dr. Liam McRoilie. Date reference – Uh, unimportant. It has been a disheartening couple of weeks. We've been seeing a repeating occurrence across all of our subjects, all within the span of around a month. According to the reports, they're exhibiting the symptoms of what we've come to call a 'Neurological Cascade Incident', or NCI. Their nervous system appears to have a seemingly unprovoked reaction, and immense amounts of synapse information is sent to the brain from all over the body. This doesn't seem consistent with pain, pleasure, or other known forms of nerve-related data; this is something new. . . and dangerous.

"This is not to be confused with the various symptoms experienced by biotics sporting the old L2 biotic amplifiers. The problems they faced were more numerous, sometimes more destructive, but never quite as painful as this likely is. There _must_ be some area we miscalculated on during our preliminary phases. As such, we've invited the asari scientist Maela T'Vess back to help us work on some solutions. We need to find the cause of the cascade, find out the potential damage, and end this problem before it nullifies the entire project.

"The project lead must be feeling the same level of worry over the integrity of the project as we are. He dispatched a pair of agents to act as one of the student's parents to have him pulled from the Ascencion Project. We are told that numerous factors are in play to help us explore the causes of these incidents, and one of those is, fundamentally, a change of scenery. The student in question has subsequently been removed from Grissom Academy to lead a more 'grass roots' type of life under the supervision of the agents. The goal is to determine whether the constant use of biotics due to the strenuous exercises in the academy's curriculum is a source of the cascade, among other things.

Liam's tone turned from business to somber. "I. . . I feel for the boy. He's going through a really rough patch in his life right now, and I wish I could reach out to him. I don't know if he'll ever find out that the two that brought him home weren't his parents, but if he does, I hope he's got something in his life to hold on to. McRoilie out."

Kevin's brow was thoroughly furrowed. Was his entire life lived just to play in the Cerberus appointed playpen? Where was his mother, the one that went through the pain of birthing him? Even if her whole reason for doing so was simply to _donate him_. . . He didn't want to think of that. It was not a level of screwed up he wanted to get into. He titled the file with a vague placement according to its relation to the other one he played and gave it the typical text description. As he hovered over the next file to play, he heard his door open. He turned in his chair to get a look, though he had an idea of who it was. There was only one person who'd enter his quarters without asking first. Aside from Ralik.

"I see you couldn't sleep either," Arla said as the door closed behind her.

Kevin shook his head. "Too many things going through my mind." He gestured towards the terminal. "I thought this might help me, but I think it's making things worse. Ugh." He rested his head on an open palm supported on the table by his elbow.

She walked over to him, swaying her hips the same way she always did. Kevin merely didn't make the attempt to hide his interest anymore. "What are you doing?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Learning about my past. Remember that story I told you about Nor? Remember how I stole data from a Cerberus data relay? I still have those files. Most of them I've listened to numerous times, but there was a collection of files that had a cipher lock on them. I asked Tosh to help me out with them a while back, so he employed the ship's computing power and some of his more advanced heuristics-based cracking algorithms to work on them."

"So that's what he was referring to back when he gave us the survey device." She hopped up and sat on the end of his desk.

"Yes. That's what I'm checking right now. I just learned that my parents were simply agents employed by Cerberus to act the part and keep tabs on me. Guess that explains a lot about them. Man, I was a stupid kid." Kevin returned his attention to the terminal, resting his head against a fist.

"It's not like it was your fault for not noticing," Arla consoled. "Cerberus doesn't exactly play fair."

"Let's see what wonderful revelations this next file brings about, shall we?" He randomly selected a third file to play and started it.

"Personal log, Dr. Liam McRoilie. Date reference – four months since the fourth subject's unexpected expiration." Liam sounded downright depressed. The kind of depressed that parents achieved when they learned their kids were all dead and there was nothing they could do about it. "We were able to bring the fifth individual, AKA Xavier Toreles, in to our lab for examination."

The moment Xavier's name was mentioned, Kevin went from passive listening to active, fully attentive listening. Xavier was his best friend for many years, but he hadn't heard from him in a while. He had intended, when the mission was complete, to find him and reconnect. Obviously that wasn't going to happen, but that was beside the point. Arla must have noticed, as she started watching him instead of staring off in random directions.

"He's following a terrifyingly similar path of neural degradation as the last four, and we had estimated his life expectancy to be no more than a few weeks once he arrived. We're lucky to have gotten him in at that stage – thanks to his willingness to help and Maela's amazing work, we're close to figuring out the source of this extremely rapid decay. It's been about two and a half weeks since his arrival, and we're waiting on some new crucial batches of information on the crisis. With any luck, we'll have a plausible remedy before we lose him too." Liam paused. "He and Kevin are the only two we have left."

Liam drew in a deep breath and released, letting it ride into his next statement. "The team is ragged and low on morale. We've so little left since the project began and our project lead is on the verge of pulling the plug. We're committing all our resources to saving them from this self-destruction, not just for humanity, but for their own futures. They're the closest thing any of us have to children, and we simply cannot sit by and watch them fall to neural decay. The new data should point to the specific-"

Liam was interrupted by a door opening as someone rushed inside and started whispering.

"Allison, I'm recording. Can't this wait?"

More indecipherable whispering followed.

"What? When? Get back to the lab, he's got to be stabilized _now!_"

"No Liam," Allison said, voice cracking from distress. "Xavier is. . . He's gone. We weren't able to stop the final NCI. I. . ." She drew in a deep breath. Kevin slammed a shaking fist down on the desk, startling Arla.

There was a long moment of silence in the recording. After several minutes, the soft sound of suppressed weeping could be heard. It was soul crushing. The recording ended without McRoilie's usual sound off.

This hit Kevin many times harder than the fact that his parents were just agents. "Son of a. . . Xavier. . ." Kevin whispered to himself. He brought both of his fists to his visor, lightly banging his head into them.

Arla grasped the edge of the table and clenched her hands. Kevin was good at hiding his emotions, and seeing him like this only meant that his will was cracking under the weight of the continuous bad news he had been steadily absorbing for weeks. More than that, it brought home the severity of his condition – if the last of his project other than him died two years ago, just how long did _he_ have left? "Kevin? Are you alright?"

"I'm. . . I'm done with these for now," was all he said. He didn't even move or look up at her.

Arla stood off of the desk and stood by his side, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Xavier was my best friend, once. We parted ways, but we kept in contact. This information is around two years old, Arla. How could I miss the fact that my best friend was dead for _two years?_"

"He passed away in the lab of a clandestine organization, Kevin. There's no way you could have known."

"I was hoping to reconnect with him when we got back. A moot point now, I know, but I was looking forward to seeing how one of the only other natural biotic humans was doing. You know, swap stories about our feats and impress each other with innovative ideas on how to use biotics. Now. . . I'm the only one left. As far as the galaxy is concerned, I died when we hit the Melkanis relay."

"Kevin. . ."

The deep feeling of loneliness and isolation he had been trying to stave off was setting in heavily. He was a solitary person by nature; it was what helped him get through rough patches during his early days as a mercenary. He had been holding onto that for so long, he had begun taking it for granted. Now that he was isolated from everything, it wasn't something he had a choice of maintaining. There was something about lack of choice that made it unnaturally profound.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight," he stated most somberly. "Too much. . . _Stuff_ on my mind."

Arla titled her head to the side. She felt for him, and it was painful to watch. She decided that it would be for the best to let him try to sleep, as a new day meant more distractions and less time to think about their situation. "I'm going to let you try to sleep. I don't think I'll help you by staying. I feel like I'm making things worse by staying here, so I'll see you in the morning, okay?" When he didn't respond, she gave his shoulder a brief reassuring rub and headed for the door.

When she got about two-thirds the way, Kevin called to her. "Don't."

She stopped and turned to look back at him. He hadn't moved from facing the terminal. "What?"

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather you didn't leave. I. . . I could really use your company right now."

At first, she was bashful about the idea. After all, he was effectively asking her to stay the night with him – bold. Once those shallow emotions had run their course, she was happy to. He was also effectively telling her that _he needed her_. This was a far cry from the man she'd first met after the Forverna crash, so haughty and sure of himself. This made their confessions to each other real in her mind.

"Of course I will."

He breathed an audible sigh of relief. In truth, he was very worried how she might react to asking such a bold question when they'd only just made their relationship official. Maybe tonight he won't feel so cold, regardless of his suit's temperature regulation.

"The others will get suspicious when I don't come back to my bunk," she said as she walked back to him.

"I don't care what they think right now. I just want you with me."

Kevin shut his terminal down and got up from the chair to face Arla. With his control over his state of mind on edge, seeing her willing to be with him was comforting. It calmed his soul. He looked over to his bed, feeling exhaustion in the back of his head. "I feel odd asking this, but would it bother you if we-"

Arla cut him off by taking his hands and leading him to the bed. She sat on the side while he took his armor pieces off and took his spot. When he was settled, she removed her armor as well. She then climbed over and laid next to him, letting the upper half of her body rest on his. This was all he wanted.

It was something new for him, to lay in bed with another. It wasn't about the sexual connotations typically bundled in with the concept, however. It was the simple satisfaction of having _her_ presence juxtaposed to his as they both fell asleepA. He felt her settle against him and let out an exhausted sigh of contentment. He couldn't help but smile as he closed his eyes and let himself drift into a warm state of rest. Falling asleep alone was never going to be the same for him again.

"Kevin?"

"Yeah?"

"That guy who challenged you. That was your heart, wasn't it?"

"Err, yeah. I guess."

"Keelah that was cheesy."

Kevin laughed. "It won't happen again."

She sighed one final time as she closed her eyes. "Good."


	36. Chapter 35

_**Chapter 35**_

The following day, Kevin went about his activities feeling a bit refreshed. The depression encroaching on his mind had been kept at bay for now, and he was able to remain hopeful for the possibilities held within that structure under the mountain. He really, _really_ wanted to get back out there, but a progress check scan from Ralik told him that he still needed another day before it would be relatively safe for him to brave that cave a second time. There were only two things on his mind for the majority of the day – the buried eezo core and, of course, Arla'Tavval.

There was a point when Arla's prediction came true. Tosh had pointed out during a collective breakfast that she never returned to her bunk last night. Her response was quick but calm, saying that she had trouble sleeping and had spent the night messing with the engine to keep her sanity. Kevin had noticed a visible change in Ralik's composure after that statement, which worried him. There was a very high chance Ralik was in engineering all night. Ralik had likely deduced that something was off about the conversation, but he fortunately kept it to himself.

Kevin had to focus on analyzing the data he and his quarian companion had pulled from the mountain in order to keep his thoughts from wandering. He still had an entire day to fill before he would even be allowed to venture close to the mountain again, and he had to keep busy. If he let himself relax, his mind wandered to thoughts of Xavier, to thoughts of his invisible caretakers in the project research team, to thoughts of his slim chance of returning, thoughts of the ticking time bomb in his head, and to thoughts of a certain quarian. Combining the last two brought about certain fears, like how long he had left before he'd meet the same fate as his old friends, and what he could do to further his relationship with Arla before that happened. Certain death always had a way of motivating people.

He wondered how Arla felt about the whole situation. If he were left in her position, he'd have a difficult choice to make: Make the most out of what you can before you have to face the devastating conclusion, or spare yourself the enjoyment of the moment as well as the crushing blow later and end things before they got too complicated. A form of catch twenty-two, as far as he was concerned. Unpleasant thoughts all around, but it was a grim truth that needed to be accounted for.

Kevin had a difficult decision to make as well. Was he going to push to deepen their relationship quickly, knowing that his time was short, or let her drive it forward? These thoughts were difficult to contend with, given that she was directly by his side the entire time he was mulling over such things. He had no intention of denying the fact that he wanted her in a most personal way, he could feel it every time he looked at her. Such mature thoughts were unbecoming of him, really. He'd never thought about anyone like that before. In the end, he made the difficult decision of letting her take the next step. He wasn't the type to push that sort of thing on anyone, regardless of whether or not his life was sinking through the neck of an hourglass.

However, that wasn't to say he didn't get a rise from the thought of such levels of intimacy. He was a male, after all. So focus on the eezo drive core he did, against a good portion of his will. For a while he was doing fine, until later in the day, while taking a look at readings gathered at the site of the drive core, Arla brought up a topic counter to his efforts.

"So. . . I had a dream last night," she said quietly, as if someone else was in engineering with them.

"That's a good thing," Kevin said. "Lets you know your imagination still works."

"It was hardly imaginative. It was about you and me."

"Huh. Do I want to hear where this is going to go?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say, yes, yes you do."

Kevin paused. "Alright, I'll bite. What happened?" He leaned with one arm on the railing next to the terminal he was working on.

"Well, I dreamt that we were alone on the Kellius and. . . We, err. . ."

Kevin flicked a hand at her. "Don't get all bashful on me now, Tavval. You're the one that had to get me interested."

"Heh. I know." She placed a hand on the side of her helmet under her hood and tried again. "We linked our suit environments."

Kevin's head fell forward as he chuckled under his breath. "That's all? I know that's an "intimate subject" for quarians and all, but you make it sound like—"

"Then we dropped our suits."

"—Oh. So you _did_ have a wet dream about me?" Kevin brought a hand to the top of his helmet as if to awkwardly scratch his head. A habit he retained even after having been in the suit for so long. "How the crap do I respond to that?" he whispered to himself.

"I know. Awkward, right?"

"Well, to be fair, I've seen you naked in my dreams as well. You, uh, dropped your suit after we had a training session because I accidentally broke your visor. Then you totally came on to me."

"Aha!" She laughed. It echoed over the hum of the low-power state of the drive core. "Was I attractive?"

Kevin recalled the featureless porcelain doll-like body she had in his dream. "Likely not nearly as attractive as you actually are," he said without thinking about the potential trap that question could have been.

She failed to respond with a quip of her own that time. After a few silent seconds, she put a hand to her visor. "My. . . My face is warm. Why is my face warm?"

Kevin, highly amused, leaned in. "You're blushing? Seriously? You've never blushed before? Actually, I didn't even know quarians could blush!"

She responded by punching his arm.

Kevin recoiled, rubbing the impact site. "Hey, hey! There's no need for violence. . . Yet."

"If you tell anyone-"

"Come on, Arla, you know me well enough."

". . . I know. Sorry, I guess I learned something about myself just now."

"You're adorable when you're embarrassed, you know that?"

"Hmph. That'll teach me to talk to you about my dreams." She turned back to her terminal, sporting some fairly evident false anger.

Kevin did likewise, sans false anger, and let the room fall silent again, this time for a few minutes. After the lull, he came up with a question. "So. . . Do you really trust me enough to consider linking suits? I'm not suggesting we do it, I'm just wondering if-"

"Yes." She tilted her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye. "Though I'm not suggesting we do it. I'd go down with infection for a week."

"Pfft. That's what immuno-boosters are for." He stared up at the central piece of the drive core. It was dimly lit, but not spinning like when they were in flight. "Still, it's good to hear that you trust me that much. Especially considering how rough our start was." Kevin saw her nod, and was going to continue his point with a recalled story of their early fights, but something stopped him dead in his tracks. Something that made his own stomach shrivel in terror.

His head started to grow warm and throb with increasing pain.

"Oh God. . ." he muttered ominously as he brought his hands to his helmet. "No no no _no no_!" he spouted in genuine fear.

Arla, immediately aware something was wrong, shot her gaze to him as he started to crumple to the floor involuntarily. She knew this sequence all too well and abandoned her terminal to cradle him. "Kevin! Oh Keelah, tell me this isn't another one of those neural cascade things!" Kevin was already too deep into the event to respond, but Arla didn't need him to. She knew it was exactly that.

They both had a new reason to fear the NCIs. They had learned through Kevin's unlocked logs that it was an NCI that killed Xavier, which meant it was what would eventually kill Kevin as well. There was absolutely no way for them to know if it would the "Final NCI" or not. Arla had to wait for Kevin to either cease breathing or come back to his senses to find out.

This very problem was _sheer murder_ for Arla. It was bad enough to have to endure watching him go through such an extreme event, but the fact that his contorted writhing might be the last living thing she ever sees from him again was simply unbearable. It was like watching him die a slow and painful death, and anyone who has seen a loved one go through traumatic last moments knows how painfully crushing it is. She found her self trembling due to the stress it was putting on her.

"I need help!" she called out over the comms, no longer able to withstand this emotional onslaught on her own. "Kevin is in the middle of a neural cascade incident!"

_"Kevin is in the middle of a whadda-what, now?"_ Bela asked, partially serious.

"Kevin could be _dying!_ I need help getting him to the med bay, now!" she yelled.

_"Dying? But what-"_ Ralik attempted to inquire.

"NOW! Get to engineering NOW!" Arla screamed.

There were no further questions. Within the minute, Tyr, Bela, and Ralik appeared in engineering with Riik and Tosh close behind. The moment everyone spotted Kevin on the ground, they sprang into action, scooping him up and hauling him out to get him into the med bay. Arla followed close behind, doing her best not to appear as emotionally distraught as she was.

It took a full minute longer to subside than it did the last time he had one, but it eventually did start its slow downhill curve. Kevin opened his eyes when he was first able to so that he could catch his bearings. He must have been moved while he was under the cascade's influence, as he was now in the med bay, surrounded by the team. Ralik, Tosh, and Tyr were all busily checking terminals and peering at their omni-tools – they were clearly hard at work on something. Bela, Riik, and Arla were standing on either side of his bed, visually monitoring his process. With on hand still over his visor, he tried to hoist himself up to the sitting position. There were sighs of relief, quickly followed by speedy attempts to get him to cease trying to move.

"Lay still, Kevin," Arla suggested. She saw Ralik prepping some medi-gel for Kevin, but she pulled the salarian's arm away. "That won't help him. Trust me."

"What can we do?" Ralik asked, looking for a usable solution.

"I'm. . . not entirely sure," Arla admitted, crossing her arms and pulling them close to her chest. "It's the same thing that happened on the geth structure. I think he'll get through it now that the worst is over."

"Has this happened before then?" Tosh asked, still trying to make sense of biological data he wasn't very familiar with. The question was traditionally directed at Ralik, who turned to look at Arla. She shrugged, lacking an answer.

"More times than you would care to know," Kevin said, heavily strained but clear.

"And through all of those times you've never found a remedy?" Tosh asked again, more surprised than interested in the obvious answer.

"Obviously not," Kevin said as he once again labored to sit up. This time he was helped by his comrades rather than told to stay down.

"Did we learn anything?" Ralik asked Tosh.

"I can't. . . There isn't. . ." His hands suddenly dropped to his side and he and sorrowfully turned his head towards the bed and those around it. "No." That came as a surprise to everyone. Tosh was the go-to guy for figuring complex things out in a pinch, but not this time. "None of it makes sense, not even applied to quarian physiology. There's nothing I can see that's causing his system to throw such a violent tantrum, but it's clearly happening. His vitals are elevated, but nothing_ I_ can detect is amiss."

Kevin and Arla took a moment to describe the NCI situation, what little they knew about it. They intentionally left out the part where such an incident could kill him, though. That's wasn't the kind of news the team needed right now, not after they just barely managed to save Kar. By the time they had gotten done explaining, most of the effects on Kevin's body had worn off.

"I'll be fine now. It's just a pretty nasty side-effect to not having a biotic amplifier."

"That looked a little worse than 'nasty'," Bela pointed out. "I thought you had accidentally shot yourself and lived, only with a bit more pain. Good to see you're on the up and up, though." She gave Kevin some friendly slaps on the back and turned to leave. "Try not to die on us, okay?" she said as she stepped out into the hall. All but Arla and Kevin followed her out, partly because of the nature of Bela's statement. Silence quickly filled the med bay once the large count of people had left. Arla, arms still crossed, hugged herself tighter.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kevin asked the distressed quarian.

She forced a chuckle. "I thought I was supposed to be the one asking that."

There was a pause before Kevin ventured a guess. "You were worried that I was going to die during that NCI, weren't you?"

She looked away, but nodded silently.

"So was I," he continued all too casually. "I've never had more than one NCI inside three weeks before. That kind of frequency scares the crap out of me."

"I wish we knew how to fix it. If _Tosh_ couldn't make any sense of it. . ."

"Tosh isn't specialized in xenobiology. Heck, ninety-nine percent of the human doctors out there would be just as perplexed."

"I. . . I need to lie down. I need some time to think," Arla stated.

Kevin was worried that she was having second thoughts about their relationship, but he recognized that this was her choice. He'd almost been expecting as much. "Take your time. If you want to talk, I'll be in my quarters seeing if I can find any useful information."

She nodded and slowly walked out of the med bay, shoulders in and arms still wrapped around themselves.

Kevin slid off of the bed. He looked at the floor and let loose a sigh before making his own way out of the med bay. As he turned aft to head for his quarters, he could overhear echos of a conversation between Tyr and Tosh at the base of the staircase by the briefing room. They were talking about how such things might be affecting his ability to carry out his duties. Tyr was confident that Kevin could continue to perform, given that this had been going on for a long time. Tosh was skeptical, though. If they got pressed into more tight situations and had to deal with more of his NCIs, it could end up getting the squad killed. Tyr could not deny those facts.

Kevin didn't bother to hang around to hear how the entire exchange played out. He went back to his quarters to try and dig up more information – it was all he could do right now.

****Later That Night****

It had been several hours since Arla had retreated to the confines of the crew quarters to have some alone time to think about her situation. She spent most of it slowly pacing around the room, staring at the floor. When the other squad members, save for Ralik, came in to turn in for the night, she laid down in her bunk. She was far from sleep, but she had no intention of getting nagged to go to bed.

What was she getting herself into? How did she become so pathetically emotional so quickly? Did Kevin simply have that effect on her, or was she just _letting_ _him_ have that effect on her? She had to reanalyze herself from top to bottom to figure out where she stood, and put immense amounts of thought into how this – a deeply romantic entanglement with a _human_ – would affect her abilities in the squad as well as the squad itself. She had never even heard of another quarian spending so much time with a human before, much less fall in love with one. The more she thought about it, the more farfetched it seemed. She imagined the potential reactions of what people on the Migrant Fleet would say if they found out. They were uncomfortably varied.

She knew from the time of her confession that letting herself get involved with Kevin was essentially doomed from the start, especially knowing his time was significantly more limited than hers. She was unsure if she wanted to go through with the terrible emotional fallout from Kevin being lost to her. It hit her like a wall when she was suddenly faced with that possibility today. She asked herself an ancient question: Was it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? It would be silly to cling to something she knew she was going to lose, yet it was equally so to avoid the one thing she felt so strongly about that she had to have this self-assessment to begin with. She was determined to decide that before the night was over.

She searched her feelings for Kevin. It was here she was sure she would find her answer. She played out imaginary future scenarios in her head, ignoring the short time Kevin had, in order to see if this relationship was really what she wanted. She imagined them bringing the news of their relationship to the others and facing the consequences together. She imagined them returning to the Migrant Fleet and boarding the Neema hand-in-hand, prepared to stave off the mass of quarian insults or curious questions. She imagined them adopting a quarian child and raising it together. She imagined them having their first sexual encounter.

With each scenario she constructed in her mind, she wanted him all the more. She wasn't even able to describe the weird feelings she got throughout her gut when she thought about getting intimate with the only person she'd ever honestly considered to be the love of her life. Not a stranger. Not a good friend. Her love._ Her_ love. It was relieving to have such thoughts finally unclouded and organized. She had decided then and there that she was going to be with him as long as he was alive. Now she could look forward to being with him again instead of riding an emotional roller coaster in his presence. She was not having that again.

After the decision had been made, however, she was forced to face the reality that he could die at any moment now, even tomorrow. She wanted this relationship to be complete. Whole. She wanted to feel him as a lover should, not through barriers and implied emotions, suits and visors. She wanted him to see her as she was, not what the suit represented in her place, and her, him. She would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't, and she believed this wholeheartedly.

The thought of what she wanted, this most personal encounter, was enticing, enchanting, alluring, yet undeniably dangerous. She knew all too well, just as the rest of her people did, the dangers a quarian faced when taking just her visor off, and exponentially moreso when removing the entire suit. Add an organic being who has encountered and resisted countless numbers of infectious microorganisms into the mix, and the result had real potential to be fatal. _Fatal. _Did she still want this? It was almost as if her own body answered for her with a resounding _yes_. Kevin had her life in his hands more than once in the past, and he certainly has yet to show any of the tiniest signs that he was going to let her slip from this world. She was confident in that, but preparations still had to be made nonetheless.

The thought reiterated itself to her: _He was worth dying for._

She drew in a deep breath and let it go. What kind of preparations could she feasibly run with? Immuno-boosters and immune system supporting herbal supplements were standard supply for a med bay – those wouldn't be a problem. The problem was that they were likely not quite enough to lessen the effects of infection enough to keep her from falling fatally ill. She needed something that drastically reduced the potential for contamination. Something that decontaminated her immediate surroundings, like the airlock. But obviously, running a decon session in the airlock while the ship is in an unbreathable atmosphere – while intending to be suitless – was more than a bad idea. Then it clicked – the decontamination chamber! There was enough room, as long as they were close, and a manually run cycle would last as long as they needed. There would be no need for anyone to visit the med bay tonight, so they would have several hours to themselves.

It could work. She found herself getting excited and restless with anticipation. All she had to worry about was getting the preparations done without anyone seeing her, which shouldn't be hard since everyone was asleep. Kar was stuck in the bridge, and the salarian was more than likely busy in engineering. With her heart racing, she turned over and slid off of her bunk, wary of other movement. She silently sneaked across the room and into the hall, heading for the med bay.

****Meanwhile. . .****

Kevin was up to his ears in past events. He had listened to more audio logs than he could normally stand, driven by a serious need to find more information. While nearly everything was semi-relevant, none of it elaborated on the information Liam had discussed in the log where Xavier died. In fact, it seemed that that very log was the last one he had recorded, or at least, he hadn't come across one whose context followed those events. Kevin was running out of information to mine.

After titling and describing the twenty-eighth log since he had come back to his quarters, he laid his head down on his arms, passing into the holographic keyboard at table-level. He was starting to lose his mind doing this, which meant he had come full circle from losing his mind over Arla. This distraction wasn't working anymore, and the information he was listening to was no longer registering in his mind. It had turned to noise with an Irish accent. He pushed himself away from the table, letting the chair roll into the side of his bed. He was mentally exhausted, but his mind wouldn't even begin approach sleep. There was an ambient ding, indicating the data he had been copying from their research projects to his storage device had finally completed its process. With a heavy sigh, he rolled himself back to the terminal to pocket his storage device.

Kevin wanted to give up his research right now and go for a little midnight drive in the Skimmer. A new distraction, but temporary. It also meant that he wouldn't be around if Arla came to talk with him, even though he had all but given up on hearing from her tonight. It was very late, and he suspected she had fallen asleep to take on her situation in the morning with a fresh and rested mind. He wished he could do the same.

He considered once more why he was bombarding himself with research on his past. If any data spoken in these logs helped him figure out how he could delay the inevitable, it was worth the fight. Kevin fervently shook his head to wipe the numb state his brain had fallen into away and he lined himself up with the terminal again to play just one more log. One log turned into two, then three, then five. As the fifth log was winding down with vague statements about how agents from other cells were being planted in Grissom Academy to supplement their data with 'normal' biotic readings from other children, he heard the door open behind him. At this point, with his head slowly falling between his supporting hands, he was just a bit too lethargic to see who had entered. He expected Ralik, as he was the only person who'd conceivably be awake right now. It turned out he was wrong.

"Kevin?" Arla called to him over the recording as she approached.

Kevin sprang up and spun his chair around to see with his eyes. "Arla! You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Not a bit. Too much to think about, and I feel unusually restless." She sat on Kevin's lap sideways, letting her legs dangle off of the left side of his chair.

"Are you, you know, okay? You looked pretty shook up back in the med bay," Kevin asked, concerned. He wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her from sliding off.

Arla didn't really answer that. She simply gave a mildly distracted and half-hearted nod. She didn't waste much time changing the subject. "Have you been listening to these since I left?"

The recording they had been generally ignoring had finally come to a close, and Kevin did his cataloging thing. "Yeah. I needed something to focus on."

"Why are you burying yourself in these logs?" she asked, now concerned for him.

"Because these logs are the only credible information I have on my condition. If there's even the slightest bit of information that can help, I need to find it." He suspended his conversation for a moment before bringing up a new subject. "I heard your cry for help while I was down due to the NCI," he said while looking at her with his peripheral vision. "I've never heard you that terrified before. Even while facing imminent death at the hands of synthetics, you've never sounded so. . . afraid."

Arla didn't really reply, but simply sheepishly focused on the light of the terminal's interface.

"I don't want to put you through that again as much as you don't want to see it, so I'm trying to find a way to keep it from happening. Wishful thinking, maybe, but it's worth every mind-numbing minute."

Arla looked him in the eyes. "Come on. Stop drowning yourself in the past. I'm here, now. I trust you'll do whatever it takes to fight it, Kevin. I trust you more than I've trusted anyone else in my life."

"Even more than the late captain?" Kevin asked in all seriousness. It was a test.

Arla did something Kevin didn't expect. She reached up to his helmet and gently unlocked the visor, pulling it off in one smooth motion and laying it in her lap. The waft of Kellius air that smacked him in the face smelled. . . Stale. Silent alarms were posting messages in his omni-tool. His eyes watered a bit as they adjusted to the atmosphere he hadn't been exposed to in quite a while. All of this, though, was overshadowed by the understanding that she did this so she could truly his eyes again. She reached up to his face and brushed suit-covered fingers across his brow and to his cheek. Kevin could feel his skin tighten from the sensation brought on by the cold fingers.

". . . Even more than captain Kortel."

That warmed Kevin's soul, and he smiled. That was no small amount of trust she had in her captain – a monumental trust that he had somehow surpassed. "Is this the part where we link suit environments?" he joked, pulling her close.

She stood from his lap and handed him his visor. Grabbing both of his hands, she pulled him to a stand as well. "I have a much better idea," she said coyly.

Kevin could easily guess what she meant. He was slammed by a cresting wave of emotions ranging from anticipation and jittery nervousness to longing and fear. He knew the dangers posed to a quarian who exposed themselves to non-sterilized atmosphere almost as well as she did. Surely it would be near fatal for her, and the brief memory of her bleeding body from his dream seeped into his mind. He gripped her hands tightly, acknowledging his understanding of what it was she proposed, but he couldn't stay silent about his worry. "Arla. . . Won't that be extremely hazardous for you? I don't want to risk your life, even if it means I can't so much as touch you."

She leaned in. "Don't worry, I've taken precautions. I know of a way to make it work." She tugged at his hands to follow and she pulled him towards the door.

Kevin resisted at first, but it waned quickly. She trusted him, now he had to trust her. After all, he couldn't deny that he wanted this as much as she did. Doing his best to put fears at the back of his mind in favor of a love-driven lust for her most personal company, he allowed himself to be pulled out of his quarters.

The trip was short. They went straight for the med bay – quickly, as if worried that someone might happen upon them in the dead of night. Kevin set his visor down on one of the beds and looked to Arla, curious as to how the med bay was somehow different from the rest of the ship. The first thing Arla did was open the decontamination chamber, and it clicked in his head. If they spent most of their time in there, her risk of a fatal infection would be greatly reduced. Kevin's fears had, for the most part, been alleviated.

Arla walked up to Kevin and she looked into his eyes again. She reached down and grasped his hands, bringing them up to the sides of her visor where hers simply rested on top of his. Heart pounding, Kevin released the latches holding her visor to her helmet and he slowly pulled it off. From inside the helmet, a flawless face graced with a beautiful smile and pair of dimly glowing, white eyes stared back. Her skin was a very pale pastel blue-white, and it looked like she had a hair line. Deep blue lines, naturally etched into her skin and running curved from the sides of her hair line to the inner point of each brow added a certain exotic allure to her already beauteous complexion. Kevin was instantly attracted, to say the least.

Needless to say, neither of them hesitated to make their first personal connection – a kiss they both longed for most terribly. When their lips finally separated, Kevin came to a startling and mildly disappointing realization. "Wait, doesn't it take around an hour to properly prep the suit to be removed?"

Arla smiled a clever smile, and spoke with the voice that Kevin heard without modulation for the first time. "The key word there is 'properly'. There's a. . . crude shortcut that will allow the suit to come off immediately, bypassing all the prep work – and failing to trigger alerts to our sleeping comrades."

Kevin raised a brow, his interest piqued. Arla activated her omni-tool and showed Kevin the process by performing it for her own suit. In short, it was a hard shut-down of all of the suit's functions, labeled as maintenance when logged in her omni-tool's history. A completely shut down suit automatically allowed removal, as it would otherwise suffocate the user. When she did this, the clamps under her colored cloths down the neck and front of the torso popped up, readily accessible. All she had to do was push her clan colors aside. Kevin followed the demonstrated steps and he, too, shut his suit down.

They spent the next couple minutes taking off their armor and carefully unlatching each of the many clamps on their own suits until there was but one left. Offering each other their final binding, they ceremoniously unlatched each other's last clamp before stepping back to remove the suit in its entirety. Kevin quickly realized pulling it off was not easy, and was akin to taking off a tight and stiff bodysuit used for thermal dampening. Of course, this hardly slowed either of the eager lovers down. Kevin's final step was to pull his legs from the self-supporting hardsuit boots.

There he stood, exposed, and suddenly timid about it. He looked up to see a similarly empty environmental suit lying on the floor surrounded by clan colored cloths. His gaze continued upwards until he finally laid eyes on the naked flesh of a quarian woman in full – and how stunningly beautiful she was. Her midnight blue hair cascaded down her back, a feature Kevin never once suspected of their race. The deep blue lines on her forehead also found home on the front her neck, forming close V shapes with the top ends terminating at small circles. Similar patterns continued sparsely down her chest and waist, with the last one bridging across her lower hips. They reminded him of tribal markings, but these shallow etchings were naturally part of her skin.

Kevin's heart must have stopped for a good five seconds. He sat back onto the lateral bed of the decontamination chamber without even thinking about it, as everything in the room faded away when he took in her form. Lack of natural expectations likely played a role in his high level of attraction. When his alertness returned as she approached him with a sultry smile, he laid back.

"Wow. . . It's too bad you have to hide such a body under that suit all the time." He swallowed a dry lump in his throat. "I'm, uh, going to admit that I've. . . Never done this before." As someone who had never honestly considered laying with any woman before, he thought himself to be quite calm. Sure there were all sorts of weird things going on in his gut, but those were not the usual bad gut feelings he was used to. He drew in a deep breath and embraced the fact that _he was actually going to do this._

Arla placed a long finger over Kevin's mouth to shut him up. She could see the same uncertainty in his eyes he had any time he ended up in an unfamiliar circumstance, but she clearly knew what she wanted, and wasn't about to let him waver due to such a thing. "Just. . . Handle me the way you would handle your blade, and we'll both be just fine."

Kevin knew exactly what she meant, and his apparent uncertainty fell away as she climbed onto the bed and laid upon him face to face. She pressed the manual controls for the decontamination chamber and the bed retracted into the large half-cylinder where the process typically took place. Her warmth enveloped him as the closing glass doors completed the cylinder and the dense decontaminating fog filled the chamber. With a deep-seated kiss, thus began the ultimate consummation of their mutual love.

****Hours Later****

Kevin awoke with a slight startle from the most comfortable night's sleep he's had in many, many months. He was still in the decontamination chamber amongst the fog, and Arla was still sleeping ever so contently on top of him, using his chest and her arm as a pillow. Even as she slept, she had a seemingly permanent smile. He brushed some dangling strands of hair from her face, and she cooed in her sleep from his fingers brushing against her forehead. Kevin didn't want to move – he was perfectly content to lay here forever like this. However, he knew that he could not, and he had to contend with the notion that if they didn't return to their normal appearances, they would certainly be found out. He didn't want that sort of drama, and he was sure she didn't either.

He had no way to tell how long had passed since he fell asleep with her until he got out of the decontamination chamber. In order to do that, however, he would have to wake her up. He hesitated, if only to watch her sleep just one more minute. With a deep breath, he pushed himself to cup a hand around her cheek with enough contact to rouse her from slumber. It worked, and her eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked around, then her eyes met with his. That already existing smile got even wider, and she sighed. He could see her eying the controls for the chamber, fighting with the want to stay here.

"If only," she said.

"If only," he repeated back to her. She sighed a second time, then nodded to him. He reached over to the controls and ended the cycle. The doors slid into their hiding places at the back of the chamber and the fog rolled out like a waterfall in slow motion while the bed crawled out into the open. He searched for the nearest source of time in the med bay, and found that they had been in the chamber for about six hours, which meant they had likely been sleeping for about four. The others would be waking very, very soon. Arla noticed this as well, and against everything her body was telling her, she rose from her living pillow and tenderly made her way to her undisturbed environmental suit.

Kevin got up after her and likewise went to his own suit. He stared at it, the discarded shell that separated him from everything around. He suddenly realized that he had a choice here in making the decision to actually get back into that colorless identity. Since he had found his old hardsuit helmet, he could use the heavy hardsuit stored in his quarters closet instead. He could go back to a familiar life of modularity. But. . .

He turned to look at Arla as she suited herself in her prison. He could see it on her face – she had just experienced the most impossibly wonderful thing of her life, and it happened _outside_ of her suit. Now she had to cover herself once again, and again fall under the veil of her people's past. She did _not_ want to don that suit now, not after such a short time of experiencing such incredible freedom. Kevin had to align his thoughts to the idea that she hadn't been outside of a suit in years. Years. Empathetic to her situation, Kevin made the active decision to return to his faceless self and wear the environmental suit again.

Arla must have been aware of his ability to choose here – she paused as he started to fit his legs back into the hardsuit calves. "You have no idea how much I respect that decision, Kevin. You did it for me, and now I won't feel alone getting back into this suit."

Kevin shrugged, pulling his suit up around his legs and waist. "Eh, it's not so bad once you get used to never having to visit the bathroom again." That said, he was careful to make sure to get everything back to where it was – he had no intention of wetting himself due to carelessness. She chuckled and resumed her task as well.

Around ten minutes later, both were fully clad in their freshly booted-up suits proper, all except their visors. Kevin picked Arla's up and held it between his hands. He walked over to her and a brought a hand to the back of her helmet, gently pulling her in for one final kiss – quite possibly the last they would ever have. She responded favorably, knowing this fact all too well. After exchanging last words of love, they also exchanged visors. With the final pieces reequipped, their suits defaulted to sealing them in and cleansing the recycled air they breathed.

"I guess I'll head back to my quarters before someone comes looking for me," Kevin stated.

"I think I'll try to make it look like I passed out in the mess after a drink or two. Can't risk walking in on awake squadmates and all. . ."

They both were still reluctant to leave, and both wished this moment didn't have to end this way. Kevin was the first to make his way out, and he went straight for his quarters. He fell face-first onto his bed and he rolled over. He figured he would try to sleep a bit more, since he had gotten so little over the past few days. All he had to do was NOT think of the potential sickness worming its way through Arla right now. Easy, right? Sure enough, he was able to at least close his eyes and rest.

He was quickly woken when Arla shoved him in his bed. "Kevin, wake up already!"

"What?" Kevin said as he shot up to a sitting position. He looked over at the clock. Five hours since he'd laid down. He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep. Arla must have really worn him out. "Alright, I'm up," he mumbled amidst a mental fog.

"Ralik gave me one last scan. He said I check out and that we should be good to return to our "investigative duties" in the mountain. Airquotes and all."

Kevin's head drooped. "Okay. I'm coming. I just. . . Need to wake up. And eat something."

After Kevin finally managed to fight off the curtain of drowsiness and get something in his stomach, he and Arla headed down a couple decks to prep themselves for the trip. They had a somewhat better idea of what they wanted to do this time, specifically in bringing a terminal along to see if there was any data to tap into in those conduits. A simple enough job, given that they only had a few hours to toy with it.

Kevin strode through the cargo bay feeling like a new man. It wasn't the refreshing change he felt other morning, it was far more significant than that, though intangibly so. He couldn't really explain it – everything just seemed to be alive again. Less of a hazy grey wash. He could see it in Arla as well – she practically bounced with every step, humming a song she had heard Bela sing recently. Funny how one night could so dramatically change two people. With their portable terminal setup packed and tossed in the back seat of the Skimmer, a fresh set of thermal clips in their pockets, a crate of materials for exploring the cave locked in the side-storage, and a nigh palpable enthusiasm about them, the duo hopped into the Skimmer.

"Hey!" Tosh yelled, running towards them from around the corner at the base of the ramp. "You guys aren't taking that _now_, are you?"

"We sure are," Kevin said, preparing to start the hovercraft.

"We're heading back to the mountain for a couple hours to see what, if any, data we can mine," Arla said, completing Kevin's thoughts.

"Wait!" Tosh yelled, seeing Kevin reaching for the start button. "I need it too, you know. I have some time-sensitive research to do near the mouth of the cave we explored earlier."

Kevin's high spirits just wouldn't allow him to tell Tosh 'too bad', or 'wait a couple hours'. "I'll tell you what, Tosh, I'll cut you a deal. I'll drive us to the point where we get off, and then you can take the Skimmer for your research."

"I can agree to this compri-"

"On one condition," Arla stated, crossing her arms. "You have to be back to pick us up in no more than three hours. I'd rather not have to deal with a messed up brain right now."

Tosh nodded. "Agreed and agreed. I have one device to get, just give me a moment."

The Skimmer roared to life and picked up off of the floor of the bay. Tosh, likely spurred on by the sound of the Skimmer starting up without him, came running with a closed metal case under his right arm. He tossed it up into the back seats, a metal against metal clang audible over the engines as it collided with their terminal pack. Tosh climbed aboard and set himself down.

"I advise that you hold on," Arla warned. "Kevin enjoys driving. . . Fast."

Tosh grabbed ahold of a nearby bar to stabilize his position in the seat just in time – Kevin had already turned the hovercraft and shot out of the cargo bay. His initial reactions to Kevin's speed demon driving style was hilariously similar to Arla's when she first rode with Kevin in the driver's seat. His cries of terror lulled eventually once he saw that Kevin wasn't a _dangerous_ driver, just a _thrill seeking_ driver. Though, Tosh's opinion on that changed back once Kevin started to 'climb' the mountain with the Skimmer.

They eventually settled on the same summit they did earlier, next to the energy field surveyor. Kevin lowered the engines and hopped out with Arla, giving the controls over to Tosh. "I hope you know how to drive a hovercraft down a mountain!" he yelled. He opened the side compartment of the vehicle to grab the small crate of gear.

Tosh threw his hands up. "Are you kidding me?"

Arla grabbed the terminal from the back seat. "Remember! Three hours! We'll be waiting right here!"

"I'd rather drive through our friendly neighborhood geth collective than pull what you two just pulled!" Tosh shouted back. With that, Tosh picked up the engines and very, very carefully started hopping his way back down the mountainside.

"I don't think he's coming back," Kevin quipped.

"If not him, than Tyr will," Arla noted.

"Can that codger even drive?" Kevin asked as they started down the same path as last time.

Arla stopped dead in her tracks. "I. . . Don't know!" They looked at each other and laughed before continuing.

The trip to the cave wasn't all that eventful. They had better sight of their path since they were traveling by day this time. Arla had picked up a bit of a cough on the way down, the kind associated with a nasty sickness. Kevin kept track of it to monitor how bad it got for her over time. Kevin also kept a close watch on the geth encampment settled comfortably in the valley. He was starting to wonder if there were any geth down there at all any more – all of the equipment, storage units, grounded transport ships, and unpowered mobile platforms were exactly where they were when they left the cave last time. This wasn't directly important to him right now, though, and was quickly put to the back of his mind once they entered the cave.

At the first obstruction that would normally have them weaving and crawling to progress, Kevin set his crate down and opened it. He pulled out high powered hand-held lasers used for mining. They were each designed like rifles for comfort and stability. He tossed one to Arla and they cut out the protruding portion, letting it crash to the floor. Kevin threw a very low-mass field on it, waited for it to start floating, then tossed it out of the cave with a biotic throw, suppressing the resulting biotic explosion as much as he could. They did this for several other large obstacles before they got to the terminal, while putting lights up on the ceiling on the way. Periodically during their work, Arla would pause to cough up a storm.

After the fourth one, Kevin stopped and looked Arla in the eyes. "Hey, are you alright? My vitals monitor says you're running a really high fever."

"Just a slight reaction to our escapade. It's just an infection – it'll blow over."

Within minutes of entering the cave, they had reached their destination. Kevin tossed all of his gear to the side and Arla unpacked her terminal. It consisted of a thin, but sturdy collapsible desk with the terminal built onto the top of it, a power supply, and a number of wires. A couple minutes of setup was all their was to that.

As Arla plugged in some wires to the back of the terminal to get ready to search the conduit for a connection point, she broke the quivering silence. "I didn't get a chance to tell you – last night. . . Well, it was amazing. I lose my breath just thinking about it." She coughed again, leaning on the desk for support as her body shook.

"Sure was," Kevin said as he set his mining laser down on the side of the desk. "I'm never going to forget it."

"It was almost like you knew what you were doing. You treat all the quarian women you meet that way?" She found something to connect her wires to, though it clearly wasn't designed to have things plugged into it. Luckily, she was good at improvising.

"I just know what the ladies like," Kevin bragged, half serious.

"Ha!" she cackled as she finished setting up the physical connection. She coughed again and placed a hand on her helmet.

"What, do I need to prove it to you? It wasn't beginner's luck, you know." He pulled her to him so that she was face to face.

She reached back and entered in some commands into the terminal before letting herself be swept in. The terminal began searching the connection for a network, some data, anything that it might recognize and analyze. "I might be persuaded to. . . Confirm my hypothesis. You know, for science." She was racked with another coughing fit and she held on to Kevin as her knees buckled.

When she finished, Kevin hoisted her to standing and looked into her eyes again. "You're starting to worry me. That was a nasty fit there." There was a dominating tone of concern.

"Ugh. My head. . . It feels like the floor is shaking. . ." She let her head rest against his chest wearily.

Meanwhile, their terminal was lit up like a Christmas tree. The screen was filing though _absurd_ amounts of extremely foreign machine code, scrolling through lines upon lines. This continued until the holographic screen froze, filled with one particular complex character while screaming a single agonizing tone of error. Kevin raised a brow in curiosity, but that curiosity turned to ominous caution when he _actually_ felt the ground shaking. He listened hard and could hear a deep, rising rumble in the mountain. They both looked to the mining laser that Kevin put on the desk in stunned silence as it went from quivering in place to rocking itself off of the desk. The moment it hit the ground, the entire cave started to furiously quake as though the very rock they stood upon was about to give way.

Terrified, Kevin abandoned their equipment and started a mad sprint for the way out, barely holding on to Arla's hand as he yanked her with him. The lights they had set up fell uselessly from the ceiling, causing the frantic escapees to resort to omni-tool light. They stumbled and jerked, trying their absolute hardest to keep their footing as the incredible trembling continued. Rocks and chunks of ground fell all around them, littering their only escape route with near-unavoidable hazards.

Kevin could hear his companion coughing again and he looked back. She was in the middle of another round of coughs, trying to keep air in her lungs as they ran. Kevin's sight turned back to his path and he could see the light of the mouth of the cave in the distance. His brief moment of hope was torn from him when he felt Arla's hand slip from his. Fighting against every good sense he had, he skidded to a stop and turned around to find her, throwing a very high-density mass effect field on the surface of rock above him to make sure he didn't any surprise knocks to the head. Before he could even bring his light around to figure out what happened, part of the ceiling just out of Kevin's influence gave out and a deadly cascade of crumbling and jagged rocks filled the cave right at Kevin's feet.

A sharp and numbing chill shot up his spine. Eyes wide, he called out to Arla, his voice cracking from shouting so loud. All he heard in return was his voice bouncing back to him off of the surface of the messy new wall. He used his light to visually scan his surroundings. The cave-in had surrounded him on both sides – the only reason he was still alive was because of that barrier he lined the ceiling with. Luckily, he didn't have to pay much attention to it. It wasn't deflecting constant volleys of projectiles, it was simply holding the ceiling in place.

The raging seismic event began to subside enough for Kevin to begin searching for Arla. He encased the rocks from the collapse in a negative density mass effect field and lifted them one at a time as though they were made of styrofoam. Logic wasn't at the forefront of his mind right now, and he dug through the broken rocks without even thinking about whether or not his actions would make things worse. He could feel sweat trying to gather on his forehead – a subtle indicator of just how much he was stressing out. He had just found her, finally admitted to love, and had the most personal encounter of his life with her. He was not going to lose her now, not like Nor. This was too soon. Way too soon.

He'd finally displaced enough rubble to see through to the other side of the collapse. He saw Arla's body lying still just shy of the cave-in, and all at once, Kevin was both relieved and exceedingly worried. He dug out a big enough path for him to walk through, knowing that he'd have to carry her from this point, and knelt down at her side. He didn't see any damage, but her suit was covered in dust. Kevin didn't have time to figure out what happened – the cave was still shaking. He draped her limp body across his arms and returned to where he previously stood.

Just then, an extremely deep snap boomed and echoed throughout the entirety of the cave, the kind one might hear while standing on a frozen like that had just cracked all the way across. He focused his light along the walls of the cave and saw the source – there was a massive crack that had just appeared, running along both sides of the cave wall. After a quick boost of dark energy to strengthen the field above him, the biotic gathered an immense amount of dark and released it in the form of a big push at the wall blocking his exit. The loose rocks blew backward, opening the path to the exit once more. The shaking returned, and Kevin sprinted full tilt in his desperate attempt to get out before they got crushed in earnest.

****Elsewhere****

Ralik stumbled over to his lab, grabbing ahold of a terminal before it fell. The ground had suddenly started shaking just enough to knock all kinds of equipment over and research materials off of their carefully placed foundations. Ralik, Tosh, Bela, and Tyr were scrambling, trying to keep the lab from falling down and spoiling important research details.

"I thought the scans showed stable tectonics?" Tosh shouted at his salarian research buddy, trying to keep his freshly obtained samples from falling to the grass.

"They did!" Ralik shouted back, catching a beaker full of fluid as it jostled free of its table.

"What the heck is going on?" Bela wondered aloud, irritated.

"This doesn't feel like a classic tectonic-based event!" Ralik inferred. "More like. . . Something's moving one of the mountains!"

Riik stumbled into the lab from outside the tent. "Keelah, guys, you have to see this!"

****Back at the Mountain****

Having made it out of the cave alive, Kevin thought his worries would be over. It was soon rather apparent that the opposite was the case. Gigantic chunks of rock were crashing all around him, falling from above. They weren't falling as though they had rolled down the mountainside, but rather they fell down as if chucked from the summit to rain down on his head. Kevin weaved back and forth, left and right as nimbly as one could manage while holding a limp body in his arms. He wasn't necessarily trying to escape. That could end up worse, considering he'd have to pay more attention to where he ran instead of whether or not a boulder was about to land on his face. He was buying time, just enough to throw another solid barrier above him to shove aside any rocks falling in his direction. When he felt that he was ready, he set Arla on the bare ground and turned upward. He thrust both of his hands skyward – a common technique used in biotic training was to fool the mind into thinking that the strength of the biotic move was somehow stronger because they used two hands, and it usually worked. Kevin knew better, but he didn't have time to mentally paint a stronger barrier. This way was quicker. A shimmering transparent wall materialized above him, sheltering him from the earthen rain.

Kevin took the moment to both catch his breath as well as get a look at what the crap had just happened. When he looked up to the summit, he felt his jaw drop. An immense portion of the mountain had _separated_ from the rest of the range, slowly rising skyward. After a longer look, Kevin realized that it wasn't a piece of the mountain itself, but rather something _inside_ that had taken half of the mountain with it. The broken pieces of said mountain were crumbling off of it on all sides as it rose – that was the source of the falling rocks. The longer he stared at it, the longer he got a look at its dark silhouette against the placid sky. Up until now, it looked like a flying chunk of rock, but Kevin was slowly starting to spot bits of the structure he and Arla had explored a few days back. The whole thing was rising from the mountain! He didn't really know what to think of all this. That is, until he saw what happened next.

Massive mechanical tendrils unfolded from underneath, stretching outward as it halted it's climb in altitude. Instantly, flashes of images seen on the news during the geth attack on the citadel filled his mind, but it wasn't of all the geth outside the space station. It was of the giant ship that got inside before the arms of the citadel closed. The one with the same configuration of mechanical tendrils. The one that had _destroyed an incredible number of cruisers and other ships before it even flinched_. That military commander, Shepard, called it a "Reaper", counter to the council's claims of it being a geth ship. Kevin didn't know what a Reaper really was – he thought it was just a ship, regardless of its origins. But that thing was flying without a pilot, at least without a _living_ pilot. It couldn't just be a ship.

No geth ship could ever do what this thing just did. If those things inside it, the creeper keepers, weren't geth technology, then what were they? They dated the material inside to be millions of years old! And now that several million year old piece of technology was _flying! _Kevin felt his stomach turn into a series of complex knots – a classic sign that this was bad. So very bad. And all he could do was stare at it as it flaunted its freedom.

Kevin's mesmerized state of awe was broken when the Skimmer pulled up next to them. There were people inside shouting at him, but everything was a blur. All sounds, muffled. Instinctively, he scooped Arla up from the ground and slowly started towards the hovercraft. Two figures jumped out and pulled Kevin by is arms, forcing him to move faster. He and Arla were set in the back seat while the two figures, now recognized as Tosh and Ralik, jumped in the front seat and sped the Skimmer away from the hazardous zone.

"What did you do?" Tosh yelled to those in the back seat, weaving the vehicle around piles of crumbled rocks and craters.

Halfway catatonic, Kevin looked back to the monolithic floating ship. "Something bad."


	37. Chapter 36

_**Chapter 36**_

By the time the Skimmer had been parked just outside the loading ramp, a furious storm started to roll across the region, approaching fast. Kevin had a hunch that they had that giant ship – that 'reaper' – to thank for that. Tosh and Ralik ran up the ramp in front of him to go prep the med bay, and he could see Riik and Tyr making sure the tent was secure enough to withstand the increasing winds from the incoming storm. He had Arla in his arms just as before, and he was tasked with bringing her to the med bay to be checked for injuries. Once there, he laid her on one of the beds and stepped back to let Tosh begin his diagnosis. He was no medically trained professional, but it was clear he had enough understanding of quarian physiology to accurately detect anomalies. Soon Tyr showed up and joined Tosh, kicking Kevin out for the simple sake of not having any distractions. Outside the med bay, everyone else gathered. Even Kar.

"What happened?" Ralik fervently asked.

"We connected a terminal to some ancient conduit to see if there was any information. It still seemed to be powered, so we plugged in and started an inquiry for any recognizable data structure. It was hardly going for a minute or two before the terminal freaked out, and the quaking mountain followed shortly after that. The cave we used to get out was collapsing on us and we got separated. When I found her, she was out cold."

"All of this because you tapped into an ancient network?" Kar asked, surprised. "Either that's one overkill countermeasure, or something else is going on."

Tosh and Tyr walked out to join the rest of the group at this point. Tyr took the liberty of informing everyone of Arla's status. "She looks like she's going to be okay. No serious damage, but she took a hit to the helmet. The jarring impact knocked her out, but she'll recover."

"Thank God," Kevin said, interrupting Tyr.

Tosh continued with the rest. "There's one fairly significant anomaly, though." Kevin tensed. He knew what Tosh was about to say. "Arla is running a high fever due to an infection."

"How did that happen?" Riik asked, concerned. "I'm fairly certain she didn't have to perform any modular suit maintenance, and I know she hasn't taken any hits in any of our recent battles."

Kevin remained silent, hoping that the matter would pass. To his chagrin, it did not. He had forgotten how seriously quarians treated infections.

"I don't know," Tosh said, bring a hand to his chin.

"I think Kevin might know something about that," Bela said, flicking her head in his direction, her arms crossed.

"What? Why would I know why she has an infection?" He played it off pretty well. He thought his feigned ignorance would absolve him. Again, it did not.

Riik, all too eager to roll with this accusation, pressed the issue. "Kevin, if you have something to tell us, now's a good time to do it. We're all here." The last statement had emphasis, as if trying to box Kevin into a corner.

All eyes were on him now, and he knew he wasn't going to be walking away from this. Cursing the circumstances, he decided it was important to tell his squadmates some of what happened. He sighed heavily in preparation. "Alright, I'll tell you, since we're all in this together. Arla and I. . . Might have gotten a little. . . Intimate."

Riik stepped violently towards Kevin. "What? How intimate?" he growled.

"None of your freaking business, Votis," Kevin said defensively with a poke to his adversary's chest.

Tyr placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, doing his best to keep his posture in check. "Kevin, please. It's important. For Arla's sake."

Kevin looked back and forth between Tyr and Riik, torn between whether or not to say. This was the very thing he and Arla were hoping to avoid altogether. The brief moment of silence allowed the sound torrential rains pounding against the hull and frequent thunder to reign. Riik aside, he did have a responsibility to keep secrets to a minimum amongst squadmembers. "Very," Kevin finally said amongst a long held breath. "Intercourse."

Ralik's response was the first to be heard. "Ho-ho! Kevin, I didn't think you had the _stones!_"

"You _tepka bosh'tet!_" Riik shouted as he lunged at Kevin and threw him against the wall. Kevin, surprisingly, did not fight back. Tyr, Bela, and Ralik pulled Riik back by his arms. "Are you _trying_ to kill our commanding officer, human? Don't you have any respect for _any of us? _I should shoot you down you where you stand!"

"Votis!" Tyr called out. "Stand down!"

"Why? This bosh'tet. . . He. . . He. . ." Riik's fists were trembling with rage.

"Kevin, explain yourself," was Tyr's calm, yet dire demand.

"How exactly am I supposed to 'explain' this? It's not like I took her aside and ripped her suit off!"

"We have no way of knowing that right now, do we?" Riik said, seething.

"Keep up the accusations, Riik. I may lose my patience," Kevin warned.

"I bet you'd just love to rip _my_ suit off and toss me out the airlock, huh?"

"I'm starting to consider it!" Kevin yelled, clenching a fist. He had to actively resist the temptation to plaster the angry quarian against a nearby wall with biotics.

_ "Enough!" _Arla yelled from the med bay doorway. "Don't I get a say in this?" Bela went to Arla's side to support her in her weakened state.

"Arla, tell us the truth about what happened," Riik demanded, expecting accusation against Kevin.

She coughed and leaned against the support Bela provided. "It was a mutual decision. It was my idea, but we _both_ wanted to do it."

Riik took a step back, seemingly disarmed through shock. "What? You. . . You wanted this?"

Arla nodded. "It was a personal decision for both of us, and I'd like you to respect that."

Kevin continued to keep his distance, but he nodded. The situation was still a bit volatile, and he wasn't in the mood for dealing with uncontrollably irate squadmates. One thing was bothering him, though; how did Bela so confidently guess what had happened? "Sorry, Arla. I had no intention of bringing it up, but it couldn't be avoided."

"I understand, Kevin. How did this conversation come about?" Arla wondered, looking to Kevin for his side of the story.

Kevin's gaze slowly, but heavily fell upon Bela."Bela, that was an awfully confident inference you made just now. Do _you_ have something to say? How did you know?"

Bela suddenly resorted to nervously twiddling with her fingers. "Err. Lucky guess? You two were getting kind of close. . ." A nervous half-laugh more than sealed the assumption of lies.

"Bela." Tyr said in tone that demanded truth.

She placed a hand on the forehead of her visor. "Argh, okay, okay. I had to grab some medi-gel from the med bay because Ralik's lab blew up in his face again, and when I went in-"

"Oh God." Kevin knew what was coming.

"Well, there you two were, fogged out in the decon chamber, making all that. . . Hermh. . . Noise."

"Bela!" Arla shouted, staring at her. "You. . . You were in the room?"

". . . Maybe?"

Kevin threw his hands up in the air, utterly embarrassed. "I can't believe. . . Oh man, I feel sick." He felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He almost threw up.

Arla's reaction was similar. "Keelah, Bela! I— I can't believe you!" She had to hide her face, nearly walking away into the med bay, suffering from a mild stress-driven coughing fit after she turned.

Bela, on the other side of the fence now, tried to defend herself. "Just so you know, I had gone almost two months without activating my neural stimulator! Two whole months, until you two ruined my efforts.!"

That only made Kevin and Arla reel even more.

"Bela!" Ralik called out, swiping a flattened hand back and forth in front of his neck while shaking his head.

Bela shut up right quick, fists on the sides of her helmet, growling at herself for her own hasty stupidity. Riik, between Arla and Kevin's admission and Bela's subsequent action, was too stunned to say anything.

Kar was getting a little uncomfortable with where the conversation had already gone, so he made a direct attempt to switch gears. "Okay! Um, so what's up with that thing in the sky over there?" he asked as he flicked a thumb in the direction of the mountain range.

Those involved in the mortifying conversation more or less ignored him, still trying to deal with what had just gone on. He looked at Tyr and put hands up in front of him at a loss. Tyr had his visor buried in one hand, head shaking. It looked as if the squad had devolved into elder teenage nonsense. How awkward.

Kevin took in a deep breath, letting his thoughts be distracted by the thunder roaring outside. "Okay. Okay, this whole debacle is a little messed up, but we kind of have bigger problems right now." The team quieted down, and the seriousness of the situation came up a couple notches. "Anyone know what a reaper is?"

Most of the squad looked at each other for answers. Tosh fell still, a pale color washing over him that could practically be seen through the suit. "Oh no. That's what that is out there?"

"What do you know?" Kevin asked, looking for information he didn't already have.

"Only what Tali'Zorah vas Neema told me once she returned to the Migrant Fleet after her pilgrimage, but even that is scary enough."

"Let's take this to the briefing room and out of the hall," Tyr said, seeing Kar get weary from standing for so long. The others agreed and they all filed through around the table. For now, the messy situation was put on the back burner, though Riik gave Kevin quite the shove as he walked by.

"They're a race of sentient synthetics, impossibly advanced compared to the geth," Tosh ominously started. "She spoke of a conversation her party on the Normandy had with that giant ship that attacked the citadel, called Sovereign."

"They have names?" Kevin asked, most curious.

"Apparently so, or at least that's what it called itself. You all saw the vids of the citadel attack – that thing ripped clean though multiple cruisers in seconds. That looks to be what's up in the sky over the mountains now."

"So a couple hyperadvanced synthetic beings are bent on wrecking the citadel?" Arla asked. "Why?"

"From what Tali'Zorah told me, there's millions upon millions of them waiting in dark space, trying to get to the galaxy to wipe _everything_ out. Sovereign's mission, apparently, was to use the citadel as an enormous mass relay to let the reapers in from there."

"Good God," Kevin said aloud. "Dark space? You mean. . ."

Everyone slowly looked to the ceiling, knowing that dark space was just beyond their atmosphere. A deafening chill swept the entire room. The silence was only broken by thunder and coughs.

"But what is one doing buried under a mountain?" Tyr wondered. "What good does sitting there do for their objective?"

"I'm not sure," Tosh replied, his voice calm, "but whatever it's doing here, it's not good for us or the galaxy at large. In fact. . ." Tosh looked down in concentration. "Keelah. I think I know why the geth in this system are so. . . different."

"The reaper?" Kevin asked, beginning to make the connection.

Tosh slowly looked to Kevin. ". . . Yes. It makes sense. The network of geth consciousness could easily be heavily influenced by something supposedly as advanced as a reaper."

"But the geth only found this place recently," Arla pointed out. "Our scans of it pointed the materials to be millions of years old. It couldn't have _planned_ for the geth to arrive."

"Right," Tyr agreed. "There has to be some other purpose for it to be here."

Just as Tyr finished his statement, a loud, deep, mechanical 'roar' of sorts reverberated over the entire field the Kellius sat on. Broken from their conversation, everyone made their way to the bridge to look at the machine through the viewports. It was upright now, with its metal, jointed tendrils held tightly below and its long, double pointed top high in the sky. The thing had to be two kilometers, easy.

"Something tells me we're just about to find out," Kevin ominously stated.

As if on spoken cue, a massive arc of red-hued lightning coursed all around the hull of the mechanized beast before making its way down the many tendrils. The blast of strange electricity shot downward into the center of the void in the mountain it rose up from, illuminating the crater from the inside. Each body in the Kellius tensed uncomfortably – something was clearly being put into motion.

The ground beneath the Kellius began to shake again, but this time, it wasn't the violent shaking the reaper caused when freeing itself from rock and ground. It was higher in frequency and more mechanical in nature – almost like a hum too deep to be heard that originated from the very heart of the planet. That was when the most awe-inspiring and fear-inducing event began to take place.

Out of the side viewports, Kevin and the others could see pieces of the mountain ranges – no, the _entire_ mountain range shifting. It seemed to be sliding on rails, moving parallel to the ground, away from the central mountain the reaper came from. Extremely loud and deep mechanical clanks filled the air around them, and other parts of the surface of the planet in the deep distance were doing similar things. Pieces of the planet's crust rose straight up out of the ground with confounding speed, twisting at mechanical joints with purpose. The squad, each one with mouths agape, watched in horror as the _planet itself_ was changing shape before their very eyes.

Kevin left the bridge to head to the cargo bay – most of what was happening to the mountain range beside them was behind the Kellius now, out of sight. He had to get out of the ship to get a full view of what was happening. Anyone who was able followed him with utmost haste. Once outside, while being battered by wind and rain, Kevin was able to take in what the transformation was building towards. Over the horizon to the west, the moving pieces had shed their mountainous facade just as the reaper had, and now shot out perpendicular to the surface. It punched a sizable hole in the storm clouds to the point where it seemed the clouds just couldn't exist near the protrusion. Strange as that was, it _did _open the sky enough to see out to the dark of space. Though the base was still connected to the planet, it was long enough so that the tip was well outside the atmosphere. Kevin twitched as he watched a second tip that mirrored the first come to rest parallel to it originating from the other side of the planet. When both pieces settled, they looked frighteningly similar to the long fins of a well-used piece of technology. . .

A mass relay.

Kevin felt his innards sink. He remembered the unbelievably absurd amount of pure eezo sitting at the core of the planet. That was why they couldn't scan the planet – it wasn't even a planet. It was a mass relay in disguise. The next thing Kevin noticed was the direction the fins were pointed in. They were pointed directly at the heart of the galaxy, which was now visible due the dark nebula having faded away at some point. That deafening chill Kevin felt in the briefing room not too long ago returned, shooting up his spine. There was a red flag shooting through his mind that dwarfed all the others he had felt throughout his entire life. With all of these extreme cosmological and geological changes, he figured that there was direct intention behind this. The reaper was setting things into motion.

"Keelah," Kar said, hobbling towards the group of onlookers. "That reaper just opened up a way into the galaxy from dark space. . ."

Tyr could hardly contain his alarm. "It's going to try to get there and do what Sovereign failed to accomplish – only this time there's no big geth army to alert the citadel's fleets first. Even if it doesn't make it, this backdoor will still be open for all its buddies to use."

"Not to mention that now the geth have a way of getting to the Migrant Fleet," Arla pointed out, hand up to block some of the wind-swept rain from coating her visor. That statement got everyone's attention just as much as the doomsday machine.

"I wonder where it drops you off," Kevin said through his state of awe.

"Everyone back into the Kellius!" Tyr shouted as a bolt of lightning struck one of the lightning rods set up on the top of the tent only meters away. Everyone's compliance was swift.

In the cargo bay, the team gathered in a circle. Arla slowly trudged in behind everyone else, unable to keep up in her condition. A slight thunk was heard as she fell sideways against a half-empty crate, using it to stay upright. Kevin broke formation to help her, as did Riik. The quarian soldier violently grabbed Kevin's arm with intent to twist it backwards and prevent Kevin from going to her. Kevin's response was quick and direct – he spun to loosen Riik's grip on his arm and grabbed Riik's grasping wrist with his opposite hand. He slammed the attached arm back into Riik's chest, thrusting him flat against a solid crate opposite the one Arla rested on. He clenched his fist, but simply shook his head at Riik instead. "Riik, now's not the time, and I'm not in the mood!" Kevin saw some of the others take a step towards the two in case there needed to be intervention, but they stopped their approach when Kevin left Riik standing against the crate to see to Arla.

Kevin steadied her and wrapped one of her arms around his neck for support. He looked back to Riik who was angrily making his way back to the group. "This is my fault. My responsibility." Riik didn't respond.

Kevin looked to his omni-tool for Arla's vitals, worried due to her heavy breathing. Her fever had hit one hundred and four point five. "Good God, you're burning up. Bela, can you please see if there are any collapsible beds in these crates?"

Bela nodded and went to search. Tyr, knowing what was where in the inventory, called after her to make her search much easier. "Bela! Crate C-12."

Within moments, Bela popped out from behind a cluster of crates wheeling an unfolded cot-like bed towards them. She stopped just shy of Kevin and Arla's current path and turned it sideways to make it easier for Arla to get on. Kevin could tell that Arla was hardly aware of her surroundings at this point, so he hoisted her up and gently laid her down on the bed. Bela turned the bed and wheeled it to the group. Tosh took a couple steps toward Arla with omni-tool at the ready, but stopped himself and looked to Kevin.

"Kevin. A small dose of medi-gel won't stop the infection, but it should help with the fever."

Kevin nodded and used his omni-tool to activate a mild dose of the stuff in Arla's suit. After the medicine coursed through her body enough, her heavy breathing subsided a bit. She seemed to fall asleep.

Kevin remained there, hovering over her, for a while after he had administered the dose. She nearly died in the cave because the infection kept her from keeping up. The infection that he directly caused. Blaming himself wasn't normally his cup of tea, but he couldn't help but feel wholly responsible for her current, miserable state.

"Kevin!" Ralik called, tugging at his arm.

Surprised, Kevin snapped his vision to the salarian.

"Look, I know you're concerned for her well being, but at this current moment we have a much more significant threat to be focusing on."

Kevin stared at Ralik for a moment, coming to grips with this unfortunate truth. He looked back to Arla and nodded. "Okay." He sighed. "Alright." He knew, just by proxy, that the reaper situation _needed_ a quick response. Something had to be done _right now._

"You got your head right? Both of you?" Tyr asked to Kevin and Riik. Both looked at each other and nodded. "Right. We all know that the reaper needs to be stopped. The major problem is figuring out how to do it."

"Yeah," Bela said, perplexed, "how do we disable a massive sentient dreadnought bent on enabling galactic extinction?"

"Well, let's run through what we know," Tosh suggested, fishing for ideas.

"It can be boarded," Kevin said, eager to put that monstrous thing down. "Arla and I were able to navigate inside it, even to the eezo drive core. There's no pathing, though. We'd have to blaze our own trail."

Tosh mentally noted the details. "So we know that it has an eezo core. We know it has space enough to move around inside it. Don't we also know it has exposed data conduits?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't bother trying to hack it, though," Kevin mentioned through a long exhale. "When Arla and I plugged into it, it just screwed our terminal up and woke the freakin' thing."

"What about a bomb?" Tyr asked.

"No can do, chief," Bela said with a shake of her head. "All of our heavy ordinance is exhausted. I'm already tapping into makeshift explosives just to keep my launcher useful."

"There's got to be some way we can disable that thing," Tosh said, knocking knuckles against the top of his visor.

"Is there some way we can sabotage it?" Kevin wondered, thinking back to some old alliance operations. "Rig the eezo core or something?"

"Aha! Perhaps!" Ralik shouted in excitement. "It's an STG elimination and coverup tactic. We'd rig an eezo core to destabilize catastrophically the very moment it's fed the monumental amounts of energy from the mass relay. The result is a devastating explosion that looks an awful lot like an accident."

"And since this beastie needs to use an unthinkably large mass relay to do what it needs to do. . ." Bela thought aloud.

". . . Then we can count on it using the relay to charge its core. Sounds like we have our attack vector," Kevin noted.

Ralik nodded. "I still have the material manifest on my omni-tool. Hopefully we have all of the necessary components somewhere."

"So it looks like we're using the "Infiltration and Package Delivery" strategy once again," Tyr mused. "How do we get aboard? It's already airborne, and I doubt it it'll simply let us dock the Kellius to it."

"That's a tough one," Tosh admitted. "It'll probably have solid kinetic barriers as well."

"There has to be a way," Kevin said as he racked his brain for ideas. There were a few minutes lacking in conversation as everyone tried to come up with a viable solution. "It's bigger than a dreadnought, right?" Everyone nodded, and Kevin continued. "I'm no expert on ship propulsion and design theory, but something tells me it can't just hang around in this gravitational field without putting a crapload of power towards lowering its mass enough to hover like that. That's why our dreadnoughts can't enter planetary atmospheres, because the gravitational pulls are too strong and they can't put out enough power to keep the ship from crashing."

"I think I see where you're heading," Tosh said, hand on his chin. "Clearly the reaper _can_ put out power enough to do so, but it's more than possible it's diverting power from kinetic barriers to avoid an overwhelming electrical draw. Let me check the bridge terminals to see if such is the case."

"I'll come with you," Kar said, raising an arm for Tosh to duck under to support him. They left for the upper decks immediately.

"Where is this train of thought going, Folner?" Tyr wondered.

"We may have to pull off an old human military insertion tactic. A strategic air drop."

This got Ralik's attention. "Interesting option, Folner. How are we going to account for the lack of air resistance-based descent control?"

"You mean parachutes? I can create a mass effect field big enough to encase a number of people as long as they're all grouped tightly together. I'll lower our mass enough so that I can use a secondary field to manipulate our flight speed. It'll be. . . challenging, but I think I can do it."

"Ah, the benefits of having a talented biotic on our squad," Ralik said, impressed with the idea. "And when we approach the kinetic barriers, the rest of us use our omni-tools to create a phasic distortion field around us to destabilize the barriers as we hit them. If Kevin's theory about diverting power to the mass effect core proves true, we should be able to punch a hole in the barriers."

"Like a disruptor torpedo!" Bela shouted, finally grasping the plan. "Instead of using mass effect fields to increase our mass, we'll just destabilize a small area of the field enough to get through!"

_"Tosh here, I heard the disruptor torpedo idea. Impressive. The scans of the reaper are sketchy at best, so I can only get limited data. Fortunately, kinetic barriers are external to the thing, so I can see enough to verify feasibility. While I can't tell if it has indeed diverted power away from kinetic barriers, I _can_ definitely gather that we should be able to penetrate them with the combined power of several linked omni-tools. At least three."_

"_Well done_, team!" Tyr said, genuinely proud of the plan they just hatched. "Our next step is to verify if we have the materials to build that payload Dolannus suggested."

"I'll get right on it," Ralik said, punching some buttons on his omni-tool. "I've uploaded the manifest to your omni-tools as well. I'll need some help finding the materials."

Riik, Bela, and Ralik all split in various directions to find the components to Ralik's device. Tyr and Kevin remained to keep an eye on Arla, who was stirring. "Urgh, count me in, guys. I want at this synthetic bosh'tet."

"Out of the question," Tyr and Kevin said simultaneously. They turned to look at each other in pause before Tyr continued. "You're combat ineffective, Tavval. You're staying here on the surface."

"What?" she said, irritated and trying to sit up. "Why can't I at least stay on the Kellius?"

"Because anyone on the ship will be attacking the reaper, and Kar can't afford the distraction of making sure you're stabilized. If something goes sideways, he needs his head in it completely."

"If someone's staying behind to keep an eye on her, I'll do it," Kevin volunteered.

"Also out of the question," Tyr said immediately. "You are the only biotic in the squad Kevin, they need you to control the approach."

Kevin grit his teeth, but didn't argue. He knew full well that Tyr was right. "Who will then? Riik?"

"No. Riik's combat expertise will be needed once you board the reaper. I'm counting on more of those husk things you described getting in your way. I'll be staying behind, dedicating my time to helping her get over this infection."

"There's something else to consider," Ralik mentioned as he stepped up to the trio. "Those geth in the valley next door. If the reaper is controlling them, I highly doubt they're going to sit still while we make our move on their marionette. It'll make staying on the surface potentially just as dangerous."

"Then I'll bring a gun," Tyr said, shrugging it off.

"I have a better idea: how about I stay to cover you guys? The team making the drop can't afford to be worried about those that stayed behind."

"That effectively cuts the commando team in half," Tyr warned, shaking his head. "That's pushing it."

"A necessary evil. I'm sure Kevin here would agree." Ralik looked to Kevin for a response.

Kevin was a bit torn. Having two men down would definitely make the assault more risky, especially if there were going to be lots more keeper husks. That wasn't including anything else the reaper might have up its sleeve as a countermeasure. But if it meant safety for Arla, he went against his better judgment to agree. He gave Ralik a nod.

Tyr grunted and shook his head. This was not the best strategic solution in his mind, but he had to have confidence that the team of four could get the job done. Frustrated with this change in plan but aware he was unable to change their minds, Tyr decided to drop the subject in favor of something more important. "How goes the search?"

"We're missing a few materials, but Bela, Tosh, and I are looking into sacrificing some of the Kellius's components to serve as adequate replacements. Bela will also be using the shell of the bomb she rigged for the last package drop mission to serve as the housing. Compact and accessible."

"Good work," Tyr congratulated. After Ralik ran off to finish his work, Tyr turned to Kevin, dire seriousness in his body language. "Kevin, I have no reason to believe things up there will go as smoothly as they have in past operations, and they haven't gone very smooth to begin with."

"I know," Kevin said, acknowledging his deepest concerns. "Everyone's excited about this plan, but the truth is, we have even less an idea of what we're up against than when we hit the geth sphere."

"Indeed. That said, I need you to do something for me."

"What's that?"

Tyr placed a firm hand on Kevin's left pauldron. "Use that impressive situational awareness of yours to its full advantage, and don't hold back with your biotics. With Ralik sacrificing his position on the commando team to ensure our safety here on the surface, you will need to ensure the safety of your team as you face against the unknowns of that reaper. If this one is anything like the one that hit the Citadel those years back. . ."

Kevin raised his left hand to grip Tyr's arm in agreement. "As long as Kar doesn't take it head on, he'll be safe. I'll make sure he knows he's only to enter the same airspace as the reaper for deployment and extraction – nothing more."

"Kevin," Arla called out.

"Yes, Arla?" he replied, turning to face her fully.

"No heroics up there. You're effectively in command of that team until you return, and I'll be expecting everyone to come back in one piece." She paused to cough a bit. "Everyone."

"Yes ma'am," Kevin said with a salute.

"Come back to me, okay?" she said in a lowered tone. A heartfelt request more than an order.

Kevin nodded slowly, then turned to Tyr. "I accept full responsibility for her current situation, and recognize that our slimmed team is a direct result. Anything that goes wrong up there as well."

"We'll worry about that when this is all over," Tyr said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Take care of her for me, chief."

"Keelah se'lai, Kevin. Get it done right like proper Xelvas'taersh do."

"Keelah se'lai," Kevin said in return to the both of them before turning to gather his gear. While working, he remembered that captain Siri'Kortel made the very same request to _him_ before she died. He swallowed hard. As he left, Tyr alerted the rest of the crew to Kevin's position of authority over the commando team, as given by the commanding officer.

Not more than a few minutes later, Riik, Tosh, Bela, and Ralik emerged from the upper decks with a device that looked vaguely similar the bomb from the last major mission strapped to Bela's suit. Ralik joined Tyr and Arla and they wheeled her bed out of the cargo bay and into the sturdy, rain-soaked tent. Meanwhile, Riik, Bela, and Tosh all gathered their armaments and all of the remaining thermal clips. Kevin and the others then all went up to the bridge to talk to Kar and inform him of the plan and exactly what was needed of him as a pilot.

The plan was simple enough – bring the Kellius about and give enough space for the team to get a running start before jumping out of the cargo bay. Once the team was considered clear, Kar was to vacate the airspace immediately until needed. There was an understanding that communications might get cut off, or something very unexpected might happen. In such a case, Kevin gave Kar authority to do what he felt was necessary. Extraction was a trickier deal, though. The situation could change quite a bit in a number of ways. Again, Kevin deferred to Kar's situational judgment on this. With as many angles covered as they could manage, the commando team headed back down to the cargo bay. On the way, Riik called to Kevin.

"Folner!"

"Can't this wait, Riik?" Kevin responded, preempting the quarian's next move on the whole Arla issue. "We're just about to launch our mission."

"No, it can't. It's _about_ the mission."

Kevin waved Bela and Tosh on ahead of them and he stopped in the middle of deck one's hallway to hear Riik out for a moment.

"Alright, let's hear it."

"I know we don't see eye to eye over what happened to the lieutenant," he started. Kevin rolled his eyes, having known that this was coming. Nevertheless, Riik continued. "I just want to make sure you know that my service as a soldier to the Migrant Fleet is not based on personal squabbles with squadmates. While we're up there dealing with Keelah-knows-what on that thing, I want you to know I have your back one hundred percent."

Kevin, pleasantly surprised, loosened up a bit. "I'd still feel much better if this were resolved before we left."

"That's. . . Not likely to happen. Not for a while, anyways."

"Because you have feelings for the lieutenant, don't you?"

There was no point in trying to hide it anymore, so the quarian soldier laid it out straight after a heavy sigh. "Yes. I did. I do. To think that all the time I spent silently fawning over her was swept aside for a human is. . ."

"Enraging?"

"Humbling, more the word. Anywho, the wounds are still fresh, so I can't just push it aside as far as personal matters go. Just know that it won't get in the way of our mission, alright?"

"Fair enough," Kevin said as he offered a hand. After a brief pause, Riik accepted. "That wasn't an easy thing to admit, Riik. I know. If it matters at all, I think you a better quarian for telling me this."

"Yes, well. . . Let's just catch up to the others before we miss the drop." Riik broke the handshake and quickly headed down the stairs with Kevin following closely behind.

Down in the cargo bay, the commando team gathered together in preparation. The Kellius had lifted off and was en route to make the approach for the drop. Kevin wasn't much for making speeches, since that was an attention grabber and thus counter to his norm, but he felt he needed to say something to the group he was suddenly in command of. He wanted to unify their thought processes so that he could be sure that they were all in the right frame of mind. Thank God Ralik had stayed on the planet.

"Commandos!" Kevin announced, making it known he was about to speak as their leader. "We've uncovered a galaxy-shaker, here. What we're about to go face-to-face with had the most important members of galactic society wetting their suits over two years ago. The last one decimated entire fleets by itself in a matter of seconds! We've awoken a threat not just to the Migrant Fleet, but to all of the denizens of the galaxy as we know it. We might be throwing ourselves against a wall here, fighting futilely for an outcome we simply can't achieve as a single squad of commandos." Kevin paused a moment as the loading ramp started to open and a turbulent wind rocked the entire bay.

"But we _are_ Xelvas'taersh, and we _are_ going to blow that tepka bosh'tet right out of the sky over what we've come to know as a home. Let's get it done right, the way proper Xelvas'taersh do! Admiral Han'Gerrel wouldn't want it any other way!"

"Indeed!" Tosh blurted enthusiastically. "For the Migrant Fleet!"

"For the Migrant Fleet!" The rest shouted.

By now, the loading ramp was fully lowered and they could see the horizon of the. . . mass relay. The enormous black synthetic continued to hover over the ruined mountain it originated from, a dark and menacing blemish on an otherwise picturesque view.

_"Kar to commando team. Standby for the drop point at minus ten seconds!"_

"Remember, cling as tightly to one another as possible!" Kevin shouted over the rush of the wind. "The smaller a physical footprint we have, the less I'll have to worry about making sure we're all covered!"

"Switching to secure comms channel thirteen dash four point five!" Tosh announced as he adjusted his comms signal with his omni-tool. Everyone followed suit.

_"Drop point is go! Good luck, guys! I'll see you on the other side!"_ Kar said.

Hearts pounding, the team sprinted for the edge of the loading ramp and hurdled themselves off of it without a second thought. The Kellius immediately pulled away, quickly shrinking into the distance as Kar made himself scarce. Kevin could feel his stomach lift into his throat as the vertigo from the free-fall kicked in. The lateral momentum that the ship gave the free-falling individuals kept them heading towards the reaper rather than the ground, but they knew that gravity would soon have its way. Using their limbs to correct their trajectory, the four of them intentionally collided and held fast, forming a large bundle of bodies with Kevin at the center. So far, their momentum continued to hold the path at the reaper. So far so good.

Riik, Bela, Tosh, and Kevin all linked omni-tools for the phasic distortion that would allow them to bypass the hopefully weakened kinetic barriers they were rapidly encroaching on. Tosh was going to be the one running that show. Meanwhile, Kevin had already started gathering quite a bit of dark energy in preparation for their controlled approach. This was one of the harder parts of this phase, as he had to mentally figure out the perfect amount of energy to draw. Too much energy would decrease their mass too much, and even the smallest adjustment could stop them dead in the air. Too little would not allow him to adjust their speed or path at all, and could very well just splatter them all against the hull of the metal beast. It had to be just right. . .

With the shining metallic black surface now filling their vision, Kevin created the negative mass distortion field. Their velocity remained unaffected, but that's what the second phase of his biotic maneuver was for. With a second build of energy not unlike curving a biotic throw's direction, he created a second distortion field juxtaposed to the first one. This one was a high mass field, and Kevin planned on using it as both a deceleration tool as well as a means to shove them around and correct their trajectory. Focusing hard enough to lose some amount of awareness of his surroundings, he applied his adjustments with the extra field, making darn sure that they didn't stop moving. He spotted a series of openings under a lip in the hull that were the same shape as the ones he and Arla entered through under the mountain. He manipulated his biotic rudder and lightly shoved the team that direction, hoping to use that to get inside.

Tosh activated his omni-tool and everyone's lit up as a result. With their omni-tools linked in function, Tosh drew power and frequency modulation from each to create a phasic distortion field directly between them and the reaper, just barely outside Kevin's biotic influence. Just as the mass of flesh and suits came within around five meters of the hull, a bright white-red aura split open with the crackling sound of energy forcing other energy aside. The team had successfully passed through the kinetic barriers of the vessel. Kevin then took the final steps to slow their approach down and guide them as best as he could into the intended aperture.

They fell into the large, rounded rectangle threshold, and Kevin immediately sent them towards the closest area they could actually stand on. They hadn't quite stopped, so when everyone finally let go of each the collective crashed to metal floor in a mess of limbs. Understanding the potential danger of the situation, they spared no time in getting themselves upright and combat ready. They all breathed a long sigh of relief, glad to still be alive after such a tense and risky maneuver.

"I can't believe that worked!" Bela said to the others as she checked to make sure her launcher and many attached pieces were still intact. No one replied, but the sense of relief was present nonetheless.

With weapons drawn, the team finally stepped inward from the gateway and got their first real look at what they'd be dealing with. It was an awe-inspiring, yet frightening sight to behold. The massive room they first saw was similar to the large room Kevin and Arla had first entered into, but there were a few significant differences. The first was the orientation; Kevin and Arla had walked into the reaper while it was laying horizontally, and right now it was upright. The second major difference was ambient lighting. There seemed to be a dim, reddish-white hue over the entire inside of the reaper. Kevin found it strange that it had internal lighting at all, but there it was. The third was the activity. The place had 'come alive' compared to when he and Arla had first ventured in. Huge pieces of machinery, electrical devices, and gigantic servos made the walls fluctuate with motion. Various immense cables, full of energy, glowed a distinctly different blue-white and stood out in the distance. Here and there, familiar arcs of red-hued electricity bounced and flowed across the open space of the room. There was a constant, deep hum that permeated the entire monster, almost broadcasting the notion that it was awake, and it was ready to get to business.

"Wow. Amazing," Tosh commented.

"Let's move, team. We're not here to admire the scenery," Kevin ordered, looking for a place to jump down. From here, he could see a gap where several glowing cables fed into, similar to before. He deduced that they had entered from the opposite side that he originally explored, and while the inside was hardly symmetrical, it had enough similarities for him to be able to figure out where they needed to go. A path across several high-running cables had been carved out, using them as catwalks to get across the open room. After his encounter with the keeper husks, he figured it best to take this way, as it was much harder to get overwhelmed by numbers should something happen.

The team hopped their way to the collection point of several cables from which they would access their 'catwalk'. When they got there, they were stopped dead in their tracks by a deep and thundering noise that was so powerful, everyone nearly jumped out of their suits. Kevin could _feel_ his visor vibrating from the sonic bombardment. It had the same mechanized features of the roar the reaper let loose just before the planet shifted into the mass relay, but something was startlingly different: it formed words.

**"Vestigial beings. You tread on that which you cannot comprehend. Your very existence here is a transgression."**

"Keelah! What _is _that?" Bela cried, recoiling from the intensity.

"Is it the. . . No way!" Tosh shouted, looking up.

**"Curious. You, in your infinitesimal knowledge and absence of understanding, have dared beyond your boundaries."**

"Beyond our boundaries?" Riik wondered aloud.

The reaper continued, ignoring their subtle requests for more information. **"Yet, it is of no consequence. The cycle must continue."**

"We know what you are!" Kevin shouted, pointing at the distant wall. "You're a reaper!"

**"Reaper,"** the machine repeated as though to mock Kevin. **"An identity constructed to give voice to an inevitable demise. Your civilizations still identify us as 'Reapers', yet they refute the coming extinction out of self-delusion. They will crumble like pillars of detritus." **Though the voice was mechanical in nature, it still held a tone – a tone of absolute and everlasting superiority.

"Why are you doing this?" Tosh questioned. "Why the extinction? What do you want from us?"

**"The cycle has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. This cycle is no different. Your civilizations will be extinguished, as is our will."**

"Our? What are you, exactly?" Kevin asked.

**"Your finite existence has no meaning before us. You cannot hope to comprehend that which we **_**are**_**. Our very being transcends your very concept of the word."**

"Freakin' thing is good at dodging questions," Kevin said. "Well, it doesn't matter what you think you are. We're not just going to sit by and watch you try to destroy everything we know."

**"An infinitely ignorant desire and perspective. You are but dust to be swept aside amidst our return."**

"It sure doesn't lack for confidence," Riik said to the others.

"This is a waste of time," Tosh commented. "This god-complex isn't going to tell us anything."

"At least tell us what _you _are!" Bela yelled at the far wall.

**"**_**I**_** am the Gatekeeper to your annihilation. The path to your final hours has been opened, ****though **_**you**_** will not bear witness to the inevitable destruction of your kind."**

"It'll be a cold day in Hell when we agree to that!" Kevin spat angrily. His fist clenched tightly around his weapon's handle.

**"This exchange is over."**

"Good! We were done talking anyways!" Kevin shouted back. Just as he did, the entire vessel began to vibrate, and the feeling of motion indicated that the reaper was heading somewhere. "Crap. Looks like we're on a timer, guys. Let's move!"

Echoing roars of keeper husks reverberated fervently all around them. As they started across the two person-wide catwalk, they could notice the walls in the distance crawling and shifting. It was quickly apparent, however, that it was not the wall.

"It's about to get real crowded in here!" Bela shouted. As a result, they picked up their pace.

"These things use beam weapons as their main armament!" Kevin informed over the shrieking ambiance. "Shields will only do so much, we'll mostly be relying on our ablative armor once we come under fire!"

"That's wonderful!" Riik yelled sarcastically. "And to think, we're entirely without cover right now!"

"Then might I suggest we focus on reaching the other side rather than wasting breath on talking about our circumstances?" Tosh said, panting from the sprint.

Sure enough that shut everyone up. Unfortunately, their progress was quickly halted when some of the husks started dropping from the ceiling above into their path along the conduit. Some failed to hold a good grip when they fell too close to the edge and slid off, but more than five remained in their way.

"Firing line!" Riik ordered, his combat experience beginning to show for the first time proper. "Two down in front, two standing behind! Go!"

They immediately stopped their mad dash for the far side and took up positions. Bela and Tosh, both sporting shotguns, were the two that knelt down in front while Kevin and Riik stood right behind them and took aim with their assault rifles. Within a matter of three seconds they opened fire, nearly taking a beam shot that ended up filing down right between the shoulders of Riik and Kevin. The keepers had shielding now, though neither the shield nor its host lasted long under a concentrated volley of high end weapons. Two more beams were fired, but these were more in response to their host's legs being shot out from underneath them. The bright orange lines shot out on opposite sides as those particular husks fell down to the distant floor below from a complete loss of grip on the conduit casing.

Without waiting a single second, the commandos were moving again. Their full tilt run brought them all the way to the last few meters of the super-exposed catwalk before more husks got in the way. Again they fell into the firing line formation as more beams lit up around them. One of them actually landed a hit on Bela, but she had the sense to _duck into_ the beam so that her left pauldron caught it before her head did. A layer of superheated ablative plating vaporized, diffusing the beam to the point of uselessness. This second group of husks could not get a second volley out before they, too, were gunned to bits.

Finally on the distant side of the large room, the team paused just long enough to find their next direction. With some hand signals from Kevin, they proceeded at a more controlled pace, fully aware that they could be flanked from nearly any direction at any time. As they trekked into an opening to a corridor of sorts, the team could feel the disorienting nausea hit them as the gravity quickly disappeared, replaced by a low gravity from the mass effect field generated by the drive core. The reaper had left the planet's atmosphere, likely in preparation for activating the huge mass relay and beginning its assault on the citadel.

Magne-boots activated, the team of commandos unflinchingly continued. They had to stop every half minute or so to fight off increasingly organized waves of keeper husks, but they never even gave themselves a moment to breathe. They had very little time to get this mission done, and their urgency could not be expressed any more than with their brutal efficiency in killing off the husks and moving on. The only major difference was that they now no longer had an atmosphere to let their heat sinks cool down in – they had to rely entirely on their thermal clips. They had to be careful to leave themselves enough to blast their way back out of the reaper.

Finally, their objective had been reached – the drive core room. Riik, Tosh, and Kevin took to securing a perimeter as best as they could while Bela set to work getting the "Drive Core Disablement Equipment" assembled and in working order. The attacks on the room were mixed up between waves of grouped enemies and the occasional one or two stragglers entering from random directions. It seemed they were trying to catch the commandos lacking in guard somewhere. Fortunately, the team had killed off enough to take note of weak points in the husks and utilizing them at every turn. It got to the point where they simply couldn't press an attack hard enough to break the stiff perimeter the team had set up.

"Alright! It's good to go!" Bela shouted, tapping the top of the device twice before brandishing her favorite shotgun once again.

Tosh stepped over to Bela. "Ralik filled me in on the delivery in detail. I'll have to take this to the drive core itself and find a way to connect it."

That sparked a quick look around from all four team members. Kevin, knowing where to look, spotted the central chamber where the core itself was resting. He pointed it out to Tosh and he approached the edge of the cable-laden trench that separated him from the core. Just then, the metal sphere that was the core opened, revealing the true blue-white eezo drive core within. A pulse of energy shot out from the core and ran through a large number of the thick cables connecting to it before the shell closed back around it again.

"Why don't we just shoot it?" Riik asked, gesturing towards Bela's launcher.

"There's very little guarantee we'll be able to even hit it with that shutter on there," Kevin pointed out.

"And I only have one decent shot left," Bela added, patting her favorite weapon as it sat collapsed on her back. "The reaper doesn't seem fully aware of our presence here, why risk making things worse by poking it in the balls?"

Tosh turned to Kevin. "This is going to. . . complicate things. It will take time for me to make the necessary countermeasures to that shell and the energy pulse. Either could destroy the disablement device."

"Make it quick, Tosh," Kevin said as he flicked his head towards the core. "But do it right. We won't get a second shot at this."

"Understood," Tosh replied as he shut off his magnetic hold and kicked away to the cold pedestal the core sat upon.

"Looks like we're pulling guard duty, you two," Kevin said to Bela and Riik.

"We'll make all the noise," Riik said, "so you won't have to worry about pulling attention from the husks, Rolush. If you get in danger let us know, but focus on your job." A nod from the busy quarian was all Riik received.

Bela cocked her shotgun to set up a fresh clip. "Bring it! My shoulder has a good six hits left in it, and I've still got another pauldron!"

As expected, the waves returned much the way they had since they started their trek. Bela and Riik released their combat drones to improve their defensive capability, and they fluttered about in search of targets. And oh, there were many targets to be had. Husks started pouring in from various crevices scattered about the room, firing their beams haphazardly towards the three defending commandos. This room had enough protrusions for all three to have decent cover, but they had to be on the move at all times. Each time one of them got all nestled and comfy behind a bulky pipe, they were fished out by a flanking husk.

The trio took up a steady rotation of providing cover fire and shifting to an area freshly cleared of hostiles. Their minds were focused and their teamwork was smooth and well integrated – a stark contrast to the ferocious chaos constantly unfolding throughout the room. The dim red hue was almost always washed out by the quick and bright illumination provided by muzzle flashes, beam weapons, and sparks from missed shots on both sides.

"Bela!" Kevin shouted over his comms. Things were getting intense, and he needed a conversation to help him keep cool.

"Yeah?"

"Why in the world would you hang around the med bay?"

"Kevin! Now? Seriously?" She paused to shift her position due to husk approaching her open side.

"You could have left," Kevin said, taking the moment after his point was made to duck under criss-crossing beams aiming for his head.

Bela fired off a few blasts at a group of husks trying to catch Riik's open flank. "I. . . Don't know!"

"I think you _do _know!" Kevin ejected another heat sink and ran for a more secure position.

"Don't answer him, Bela!" Riik interjected. He had to sidestep a falling, perforated husk before continuing. "He's just trying to justify himself!"

Kevin saw that Bela was momentarily pinned, and she had a pair of husks about to round an upper level corner overlooking her exposed side. He curved a concentrated biotic throw at their side, aiming to do to them what he did to the biotic-enabled geth a while back. When it connected, the initial victim was launched hard against the second one, causing them both to fall over upside-down behind Bela. "Bela, two down but not quite dead on your six!"

The short commando looked over her shoulder and popped each one straight in the head before they could get up. "It's alright, Riik, it's a legit question I guess. I'd certainly wonder the same thing."

"So what's your-" Interrupted, Kevin ducked again, barely dodging another beam. It's host was quickly taken out by Bela. "So what's your reasoning? I _have _to know!"

Riik had to relocate this time. "Seriously Kevin, I don't think now is the best time!"

"Now may be the _only _time!" Kevin took out two more husks trying to flank Bela, unphased by the shower of sparks rolling off of his suit and gun from a terribly aimed beam landing somewhere up high.

"Alright, alright!" Bela shouted as she tossed a small incendiary explosive at an incoming wave. "Maybe I was. . . Jealous. . ."

"Jealous of. . .?"

"Jealous of both of you! I've never had the chance to link with anyone, much less-" She hurdled over her cover and sprinted towards the spot she held down not more than a couple minutes ago in order to avoid getting lit up. "-Much less even _consider _what you two pulled!" She paused to eject a heat sink and take some more shots at some husks flanking Kevin. "And hey, it was pretty hot. There I said it, okay? Now stop grilling me on my weaknesses!"

"Fair enough!" Kevin said, this time having to relocate as well. "Tosh! What's the hold up? We're getting smothered out here!"

"Just a few more minutes, everyone! I apologize, this setup had to be modified in order to work correctly!"

"Just get it done, Rolush, or _none_ of us are getting out of here!" Riik shouted.

Suddenly, the reaper performed its deafening roar, causing all four of them to curl down and instinctively bring their hands to their head. It coursed right through them, almost strong enough to rupture organs with its sheer magnitude. Interestingly, the husks stopped coming. More than that, any remaining in the room turned around and left in casual retreat.

"Tosh?" Kevin said, his tone rising. "Better get those finishing touches on that right quick. I think our time has just about run out."

The three defenders each switched out their thermal clips for fresh ones and stepped out into the center of the room. They were worried that the walls would come alive, or something just as seemingly implausible. Back-to-back-to-back, they aimed their sights at as many of the usual entrances as their omnidirectional formation allowed, also expecting a grouped wave to rush in. Instead, they heard a thud as a single husk jumped down from the ceiling.

Out of pure reaction, all three of them took aim and shot a full volley at the husk, expecting it to fall helplessly to the ground in a broken ball of synthetic materials. When they let up, their jaws dropped. This husk's shields were still active, having repelled all of their shots. _All of them. _It's innumerable cybernetics glowed red instead of blue, and it started to. . . expand. Each of its eight limbs had mechanically elongated along with its neck, as though they were just folded and scrunched together. It's wide abdomen also stretched out vertically, revealing a disgusting network of cables, servos, and metal support beams. The three useless claws on the ends of each limb seemed to grow sharpened blades over top, and had separated from the middle enough to reveal projectile-based weapons centered at the 'palm'. Though it continued to stand on four of the eight weaponized extremities, the four it _didn't_ were a serious problem. When all was said and done, the synthetic monstrosity had more than tripled its size, if thinning out in the process, and small arcs of red electricity occasionally flowed over its features.

Kevin, Bela, and Riik were wide-eyed with awe and stomach churning fear.

**"Your worthless clamoring and struggles against inevitability serve no purpose. You will perish as the cycle demands."**

Before anyone even had the chance to retort, the trio had to roll in separate directions to avoid an immediate beam shot out of the mouth of the beast. It didn't even give them a chance to gain their bearings before it lunged forth after Kevin, firing its hand-canons and preparing to swipe at him with its bladed claws. Kevin's shields took two of the four shots and subsequently went down. The other two shots fell just wide of him as he rolled. He spotted his attacker lunging at him and he lashed out with his biotics, executing a mild throw. The throw did little more than cause the possessed husk to halt its approach in a short stumble, but it was just enough to give Kevin enough time to back away while the others concentrated their combat drones on it and showered it in suppressing fire.

Kevin got back on his feet from the roll and coated himself in a biotic barrier. He couldn't afford to stay out of this fight long enough for his shields to recharge. He was disappointed that his throw barely even caused the beast to flinch, but he was glad to see that the maneuver caused it to focus its attacks elsewhere. The super-husk swiped at one of the harassing combat drones, cleaving it in two before it fired a beam at Bela. By now, she was familiar with the half-second glow in the mouth that always precluded the assaulting beam shot, and ducked into cover as the stream of destructive energy slammed against a metal protrusion.

Kevin and Riik brought volleys of automatic fire down on the synthetic, but all that served to do was irritate it. It's kinetic barriers were still holding impossibly strong, batting all of their shots away from the host. The thing grasped the metal blockade that served as Bela's cover with one of its claws and began to hurdle itself over the top, getting in way too close to the little quarian. It's upper claws were poised to strike downward were she sat, but Bela wasn't stupid and she was already on her way out of cover. Swift as she was, she was still going to get shot up if there was no intervention. Kevin tossed another concentrated biotic throw out at the set of claws grasping the protrusion, and it had just enough force to knock it free. With such low gravity, the super-husk had to use a number of the claws it was originally going to use to shoot Bela with to grab at the nearby wall and floor for stabilization. Bela got away, and the synthetic was once again under fire from all three commandos.

Kevin could see the kinetic barriers of the husk starting to waver under the obscene torment it was handling. This proved to Kevin that while the barriers were incredibly strong, they certainly were not invulnerable. If the barriers could fall, then so could this foe. This solidified his resolve, as it did the others. They pressed their attack until the husk came back at them with guns blazing. Kevin's previously set up barrier _and _shields went down, clearly being the focus of the assault, but all four of the husk's shots had been nullified. Kevin had half a mind to step back and let his shields recharge, but they spotted the kinetic barriers on the synthetic finally start to show signs of failure. Staggering their heat sink ejections to keep the pressure on, the got as many shots in as they could while the enemy staggered backwards from the force of their combined volley. Kevin figured that they had this thing tagged and bagged, but the super-husk had other plans Shortly after it staggered, the husk fired a long beam shot swiped horizontally at the three intruders, forcing all three of them to dive to the floor. With the suppressing fire briefly halted, it launched itself to the ceiling and disappeared amongst the many holes and tunnels above.

"Balls," Kevin cursed as his shields recharged. They all ejected a heat sink, the near white-hot ceramic cylinders flying unhindered away from the battle. "We need a new strategy. It'll just keep running away and recharging its shields until we run out of thermal clips and wear out. We need to do lots of damage real quick."

"I have an idea," Riik announced as they once again backed up to each other, searching for hints of their adversary. "Bela, we're going to need that last shot of yours. We won't have the time to whittle down its shields again, so you'll need to break 'em real quick with a well-placed shot. Kevin, I'll give you a leg-up and you'll have to pull some sort of biotic miracle out of your back pocket."

"I like this plan," Kevin said, as they circled in search of a target. He preemptively started gathering himself some dark energy, as well.

"It's risky. If I miss. . ." Bela said, admitting worry.

Riik gave Bela a reassuring, firm slap on her damaged pauldron."Then aim at its feet. The trick is to break its shields, not take its head off, right?"

"I can do that," she said, shaking off her anxiety.

"We just have to survive long enough to-" Kevin spotted the husk speedily crawling out of a tunnel above and off to the side, its top four arms already taking aim. He spun around, shoved Bela aside, and threw out whatever dark energy he had since stored up in a flat biotic wall as the husk lunged from its hiding place. The four shots were absorbed and the barrier shattered as Riik and Bela rolled out of the way, leaving Kevin open and right in the lunge path of their toughest enemy. The prospect of trying to fight the possessed machine was outright suicide, as far as he was concerned. The immediate danger of the situation caused Kevin to go into his much needed hyper-processing mode. The husk's descent slowed and the dim blurriness of the battle-swept room gave way to clarity.

_Its trajectory will come up short, a step back is all I need. It'll want to swipe at me. It's favored horizontal slashes in the past. A collection of metallic thunks sound off – it's landed. Its unnatural enslaved eyes are the angriest red I have ever seen. Two arms are slashing at me, one from the left and one from the right. Their path should leave enough space for me to pass between them if I can manage one of those horizontal spin jumps. I hate spinning jumps. I kick off of the floor and lean out to perform the maneuver. The room spins, but none of it is a blur. I've kicked too hard, my momentum will cause me to brush with the higher slash. An opportunity arises! I tug at my blade mid-spin just in time. The blade, barely out of its sheath, connects with the obstructing arm. Vermillion sparks fly and the arm is pushed aside, almost severed. My path is cleared and my momentum is shifted towards the ground. I just have to stick this magnetized landing. . . Got it. I put my blade back before I lose it. I look up; a third, unflinching arm is coming down to cut me in two. Can't back up, I'll get cut. I duck towards the synthetic to get inside and beyond its blades. I use both hands to hold my rifle up at an angle to direct __the crushing blow to my side. It works, but my rifle is visibly damaged. Balls. I spot one of its legs to my right. Its pivoting on two legs to spin and use its other two legs as swinging weapons. Not enough time. . . I kick upwards again, maybe I can get out of this mess with another spinning jump. Not enough time! My kicking leg is caught in the calf. I spiral out of control. The second leg comes around and hits me. I hear a crack as my right pauldron comes apart from the impact. My shoulder nearly dislocates. My rifle flies from my hand. I fly away from the beast a spinning mess and smack into the wall. It pursues, but is cut off by Bela and Riik as they rain fire down on it. I use my magne-boots to get solid footing on the wall, then floor. I grip my shoulder – it burns, but it's in one piece. I feel my head cool, the effect is already fading. . ._

Kevin stood to his feet and took a deep breath, unable to believe he just survived that encounter. Meanwhile, Riik and Bela were doing everything they could to give the husk a hard time, going as far as to separate to catch it in a crossfire. Kevin saw an opportunity for him to unleash a shot of biotics on the husk, but he couldn't just hit it from the side. All that served to do in the past was stagger it, not damage it. Running up behind Riik and pulling his modified pistol for a change, Kevin called out to his teammates as he took some pot shots at their enemy.

"Bela! Hit it now!" Kevin yelled while gathering dark energy

The increased firepower caused the super-husk to focus its attention on them for just a moment, but turned back to Bela as she was separated and vulnerable. By the time it turned back to the short quarian, though, she had already pulled out her huge launcher and was priming a shot. It lunged for her in a gambit to stop the shot, but it was just a bit too late. The explosive left Bela's weapon and careened straight into the oncoming chest of the husk. The resulting blast, a mere meter and a half from Bela, shattered the shields of both the husk and Bela herself. The quarian was thrown backwards across the room and the somewhat damaged husk fell backwards several steps, using its multiple limbs to keep from falling down.

Meanwhile, Riik had done what he initially suggested and gave Kevin a leg up, sending him airborne. Kevin's projected path would normally arc high and land him just shy of the husk, but it expectantly stumbled backwards right underneath him. Kevin, eyes beginning to glow from the biotic feat he was about to pull, reeled his right arm back. Just as he was right on top of the beast, Kevin pushed forth one of the most powerful biotic throws he had ever managed – straight down onto its head. The biotic force was far too strong for the husk to simply shrug off, and being anchored to the floor meant that it had nowhere to be pushed. The possessed husk was brutally crushed into a small crater in the floor, barely able to twitch its last as the red glow from the cybernetics quickly faded. Kevin landed atop the crumpled heap, fists still clenched and teeth still grit. He let go of a long breath just before he was suddenly tackled by Bela in celebration of having beat the incredible foe.

"Keelah, that was a nasty fight," Riik admitted, offering Kevin a fist.

Kevin stumbled around from having to unexpectedly bear Bela's weight, but was able to return a fist pound. "Good God, I hope we never have to fight one of those again."

"That's one for the storybooks, fellas," Bela announced, letting go of Kevin.

Kevin went over to pick up his nonfunctional assault rifle. He shook his head at the irreversible damage, took out the still usable thermal clip, and looked over towards the eezo drive core. "Tosh! We need to go, now!"

"All set to go," Tosh said, walking towards Kevin from an unexpected angle. "I apologize for the delay."

"Took your sweet time," Bela commented as affixed the empty launcher on her back. "We could have used your help against that thing!" She stepped aside to pick up the shotgun she set down prior firing her launcher.

"What did I miss?" Tosh asked, pulling his own shotgun out and handing Bela a thermal clip to boost her reserves.

"Later," Kevin ordered. He nodded towards the corridor they entered through, indicating it was time to leave. Just then, a pair of thunks behind the team caused them to spin around, guns at the ready. Much to their great dismay, _two more_ red husks started to expand much the same way the first did. "Aw, _come on!_" Kevin shouted in his distress. He knew full well that this was not a fight they could win – they barely survived the fight against just one.

"Orders?" Riik nervously asked. The four of them were lined up, facing the husks, slowly backing away while keeping weapons trained on their targets.

_"Run! Effing run!"_ Kevin shouted, and the threw his useless rifle at the husks. Without a moment's hesitation, the commandos broke into a sprinting retreat. By the time the super-husks were done their grisly transformation, the invaders had already made it into the corridor. Kevin created a barrier right at the mouth of the hall, hoping to slow down their imminent pursuit.

To make things worse, the lesser husks they fought en masse had returned in force, trying to hinder their escape by blocking their path and shooting wildly. The four of them had no time to stop and make a firing line like last time, so they concentrated on killing just enough of them to open their path and prevent being torn apart by beam weapons. This was a trial by fire for Kevin's pistol, as he hadn't had any real chance to test it out in combat situations yet. This was _not_ how he liked testing weapons, especially ones modded with dangerous parts. Luckily, the pros outweighed the cons. The pistol had more than enough firepower to down a husk in a single shot – barriers and all – but the recoil was fierce. Even with two hands he had to limit his firing rate to make sure his shots were accurate. This, of course, was not conducive to running in long strides. Fortunately, they were able to keep out of the line of sight of the super-husks that were no doubt angrily clawing their way up the corridor to catch them.

When they reached the open room with the familiar, now sideways catwalk, Kevin felt a bit relieved. The husks were much less of a threat out on that catwalk due to how constricted and open the walkway was, and their long-range accuracy was pretty terrible. The feeling of relief fell apart when a bright beam of energy shot from behind them, catching Riik in his left thigh armor. Riik was thrown into a spiral, saved from floating away only by the fact that he caught Kevin's hand just before the drop-off.

"This isn't the time to be playing spaceman, Votis!" Kevin shouted, barely audible over the chaotic ambiance. He hefted the quarian back so that his boots could magnetically grip the conduit.

Riik checked his thigh. His ablative plating there had all but vaporized, even to the point of burning off his clan colors there. "But low-grav combat is _exhilarating_, Folner. You should try it some time!"

Kevin slapped Riik on the back once he was on solid ground again. "Go on, I'll take up the rear!" The person in back had to be in charge of distracting the two super-husks hot on their trail. Kevin figured he could buy some time if he played his cards right.

"Negative! I'll follow you three out!"

"Not up for debate, Votis, move!"

"Who's the one with the assault rifle, here?"

Kevin paused for a split second. He had a point. "Piss 'em off good for me, then! Just not with your thigh, alright? We've all seen enough of _that_ already!"  
Riik shoved Kevin to go. "You're slowing me down! Get a move on!"

Kevin tossed an emergency barrier on Riik and resumed his sprint, climbing up onto the conduit that served as their lifeline to the exit. Through the large rounded rectangle holes in the side, they could see the edge of the planet. This was good, as it gave them a direction they could relay to Kar. Up ahead, Tosh and Bela were gunning down a group of husks that were in the way, ducking to avoid the beams.

"Tosh, any word from Kar yet?" Kevin asked.

"Just got him on the comms! He's on his way around!" Tosh informed.

"Be sure to let him know we have a pair of very upset synthetics trying to follow us out!" Bela added.

"He's aware! Let's just make it out of here!"

As they continued to run, Kevin heard Riik grunt loudly behind him. He came to a stop and turned around, only to be rammed by a floating Riik. Kevin stumbled, but he kept his footing for fear of falling off of the bridge. Worried that Riik took a fatal hit, he looked over the soldier's suit for damage, but found that he only lost a pauldron. Satisfied, Kevin set the quarian down and resumed his run for the exit. "You know, admiral Gerrel is going to be pissed that you're scuffing his shiney armor!"

Riik took some more shots at the super-husks before running after Kevin. "Ah, crap! Just shut up and keep running!"

Kevin peeked over his shoulder and he quickly saw why Riik was hustling double-time. The super-husks decided to dispense with the unreliable distant shots and were now using all eight limbs to climb their way towards the commandos with blazing speed. Kevin's eyes widened and he, too, put forth as much haste as he could muster. Ahead of him, the others were jumping their way to the threshold to open space. Once standing within that threshold, they paused and looked back at Kevin and Riik. They saw the waves of husks and the two super-husks quickly encroaching on their position, and they jumped out into open space praying that Kar would snatch them with the Kellius. Only a few moments later, Kevin and Riik were doing the same thing. Riik however, took a second to turn around and fire some volleys at the oncoming wave, buying the team some time to put some distance between them and the beams of the horde.

"Gotta buy more time. . ." Riik said under his breath, still audible over the comms.

Kevin shook his head at Riik's valiant, but extremely dangerous move. "Riik! We're clear! Get out!"

Without saying a word Riik complied, and he jumped backwards out of the reaper with the same trajectory as the others. He fired a few more salvos at the husks, but was wary of increasing his velocity too much and stopped. The two super-husks halted at the edge, not wanting to follow them all into open space. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, only to see a pair of bright beams collide on Riik. The quarian shrieked in pain and then went deathly silent.

"Riik! Oh God, Riik!" Kevin called out.

"What happened?" Tosh called back to him.

"Man down! Riik's down!"

"Keelah! Can we do anything to get him?" Bela frantically asked.

"Not until Kar picks us up!" Tosh responded.

Kevin wasn't sure of whether Riik was actually dead or just injured. His answer became clear when his body slowly separated in two at the waist where the beams cut.

"It won't matter." Kevin said, a somber tone overtaking the nerve-wracking anxiousness. "He's gone. Cut in two by super-husk beams."

"Riik. . . No. . ." Bela said sorrowfully.

Ahead of them, the Kellius came around with the loading bay ramp all the way down. Over the comms, Kar's sigh of relief was audible.

_"Got you! I heard about Riik. . . I'm. . . I'm sorry, guys, I should have been faster."_

"It wasn't anything you could control, Kar," Kevin said. He was happy to see the inside of the Kellius once more, but at the same time he felt severely disheartened by Riik's sacrifice. Behind them, the loading ramp started to close, and Kevin watched the opening in case any husks tried to make their way aboard. What he saw instead was something far, far more terrifying.

The reaper was turning on the Kellius.

"Kar? Get her moving, man! That reaper's fixing a gaze on us and I imagine it's just a little bit pissed right about now!" Kevin was fighting a deep-seated fear and urge to panic, but he knew all Kar had to do was jump to FTL to avoid ending up like all those cruisers during the battle of the Citadel. It was when Kar didn't respond that he felt his heart start to race. "Kar?" Kevin yelled as he shoved his way through Bela and Tosh. They followed soon after.

The cargo bay pressurized and Kevin flew up those stairs so fast he was skipping three to four steps in a stride.

_"Kevin. . ."_ Kar said quietly over the comms. _"The voices. . . They're back! I can't. . . I can't move my body!"_

Kevin felt his entire body tense up. No pilot meant no maneuvering. No maneuvering meant. . . He didn't want to think about that any further. At the top of the stairs, he turned and bolted into the briefing room. He came to a skidding stop when he looked down through the bridge and saw the reaper looking at the Kellius dead on, it's tendrils spread out wide. He spotted Kar in the pilot's seat, stone still. He was still a slave to the machines in his body, even if they couldn't make him do anything. The reaper had them thinking that they were all completely inert, and they were about to pay the ultimate price for their negligence.

Kevin's fight or flight instinct took over, and with nothing to fight, he fled towards the aft of the Kellius, passing by Bela and Tosh as they topped the staircase. Not more than a couple seconds after he turned, the sounds of burning and crackling mixed with explosions, creaking metal, and more explosions filled the air. Kevin was thrown hard against the back wall of the hallway as a massive red laser cut straight through the Kellius at an angle. The aft was spared most of the destruction since the cut ran diagonally, and Kevin had to align his eyes to see what had just transpired. In truth, though, he didn't need to see. He knew exactly what was happening – his ship, his last chance to get home, his lifeline was being annihilated with them still inside.

Winded, he turned himself around to see his beloved Kellius cut into two large pieces. A massive, red hot fissure grew ever wider at the far end of the hall, occasionally spewing sparks and bursts of flame. _No no no no no no! My ship! My Kellius! _Kevin thought, his heart filled with despair. All of the systems on the ship failed simultaneously as Terra's stuttered and unintelligible warnings blared. Explosions were numerous, and they continued to rock the two pieces o the ship apart while was stranded on the backside piece. Across the void he spotted Tosh and Bela, terrified and recovering from reeling blasts, huddling together at the shaven top of the staircase and silently beckoning him to jump from his drifting piece to where they were.

He had to fight his own body to move and his own mind to find the motivation. It was all over – the ship was effectively destroyed and they were all about to be spaced. He felt like he was going to vomit simply by thinking on this fact. Nevertheless, he activated his magne-boots and attempted to make his way towards the growing chasm. Halfway there, he spotted a second laser emitting from reaper, this time starting low and coming up to cut the Kellius into quarters. He knew it wasn't true, but it felt to him like he could hear his ship wailing as it got cut bit by bit. He could feel goosebumps on his arms because of it. If anything, it was tearing him up emotionally just as much as the ship itself. It had been his home for a while now, and though he'd spent more time in alliance warships, his connection wit the Kellius was personal.

Kevin pulled an immediate one hundred and eighty degree turn and sprinted full tilt to the door of the entertainment room. Frantically, he pried the door apart and ran inside the pitch black room, desperately trying to stay out of the laser's path. He didn't know why he was bothering to run, really. He was surely just as dead as everyone else aboard the ship. All the same, he made his way to the far side when the red hue of the reaper's devastating weapon broke through the floor and cut the room diagonally through the center. He was out of the path, but it didn't matter much. Some chain reactions took place and the blasts from the resulting damage tore the room to bits. The laser had cut the secret door's right side off, and it free-floated away before getting tossed into space by an explosion.

Kevin stopped trying to avoid the explosions and destruction now. He simply walked to the door to his room and stepped inside, his magne-boots nearly being forced free of the floor because of the powerful explosion-induced convulsions. It was the only room left on what was the Kellius that was mostly intact, though the two forward corners were taken off. Illuminated by explosions, flying sparks, and the reflection of sunlight off of the planet through the viewports, Kevin made his way to his bed and sat. He fully expected a third laser to tear this last sanctuary into oblivion, but it never came. His thoughts turned to his doomed, if not already dead squadmates – Tosh, Bela, and Kar. He had failed Tyr most spectacularly by not protecting them, and there was nothing he could do to save them now. It weighed heavily on him.

As muffled blasts continued to shake his cabin and pieces of broken ship flew about, Kevin looked up through the viewports. The section he was in was slowly spinning, and he could now see what was left in the aftermath. The Kellius had fallen apart after the second laser ran it through, and was now several spinning pieces hanging lazily about with flames still feeding on the last remnants of pocketed oxygen. In the distance, he could see the sheen of sunlight reflecting off of the death-black metal surface of the reaper as it turned away from him and faced its next objective – the galaxy. Out of one of the cut corners of the room, Kevin saw multiple streaks of eezo energy arc across several points on the nearest mountain range and meet at the point of the topmost summit at the center. The gigantic combined burst of energy shot out towards the reaper in classic mass relay fashion, connecting the planetary device to the synthetic. Kevin smiled vengefully and waited patiently for it.

Instead of the reaper disappearing amongst a horizontal column of blueshifted energy, the eezo core detonated in a fantastic blue-white explosion of epic proportions. He barely even saw bits of the reaper explode outwards. Amidst all of Kevin's reeling emotions, the feeling of satisfaction came to the front. This vengeance could not have been any sweeter – but bittersweet it still was. The shockwave of the blast careened into the debris field consisting of the Kellius's remnants, aggressively shoving everything towards the planet. Kevin was rocked from his spot and he smacked into the wall behind his terminal. Winded a second time, he struggled to regain his breath as he peeked out of the viewports to see what was going on. It was a disorienting mess, as his piece was now spinning wildly out of control as it entered the atmosphere.

Kevin had a last minute idea. If the piece of the ship he remained in took the brunt of the collusion with the ground and he didn't get outright crushed by collapsing walls, he might stand a chance of making it out alive. Even when all hope was lost for his ship, his want for self-preservation remained. He started gathering dark energy to himself in dangerously high amounts as he fought to align his boots with the wall and make it to the closet just a few meters away. He pried the door open and pulled himself inside. Of the spinning deathtrap he was falling in, this was the most structurally sound area remaining. Once inside, he created a biotic bubble around him made of a barrier so dense that not even air would pass through, were there any. It was a strenuous field to keep up, but Kevin had no other option. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as he awaited the imminent and likely deadly crash. He pegged his chances of survival with this method at thirty percent. That was thirty percent more than zero, as far as he was concerned.

He envisioned Arla. He remembered their first fight where he nearly cut her head off. He remembered her accusing him of getting too buddy-buddy with Siri. He remembered pressing her against the wall of the entertainment room to pacify her at the end of a fight and getting walked in on by Bela. He remembered her staring into his glowing eyes as they sat huddled in a biotic-covered corner surrounded by geth as fire rained down around them. He remembered their slow dance together. _He remembered her face._

If he survived this, she was going to be the first of anything he sought – above sleep, above medi-gel, and above sanity. He steeled his resolve against the crushing defeat they had suffered, and he put everything he had into his barrier. Seconds later, he was bouncing violently about the small room, nearly deafened by the sound of crashing metal. He kept the barrier up for a few seconds, at least. He was surprised he made it that far, but another jarring shift in momentum crushed him against the wall. He wasn't even sure if his barrier was still up by the time he lost consciousness.


	38. Chapter 37

_**Chapter 37**_

Kevin awoke to pitch blackness. This was good news, as the fact that he awoke at all meant that he had miraculously survived the crash. He quickly became aware that it felt like he was being pressed under debris, which would easily explain away the inability to see. The next thing he thought to do was try to move his limbs to see if anything was broken. As it turned out, everything was terribly sore but nothing felt broken, or at least he didn't get any of the agony associated with broken bones. He found the prospect of being buried alive considerably less terrifying when he had a constant supply of air and could move his limbs a bit. Even with this mindset, he was still faced with the challenge of getting out of this mess.

His legs were pinned to the point of only being able to wiggle in place. It felt as though the armor of his hardsuit legs were bearing a lot of weight – weight that would have otherwise broken his legs below the knee. He tried moving his arms, and found he had some airspace around his torso. The space was, aside from where his legs were, pretty spherical, if depressed. He deduced that his barrier had held after he blacked out just long enough to hold collapsing material at bay until it settled. When the barrier eventually failed, some material shifted, putting him in this tight position. He lifted his arms just high enough to be separated from all surfaces and let them go limp, paying close attention to how they fell. Like when buried in an avalanche, he currently had no real sense of direction. When his arms fell back, he realized that he had settled facing up as if lying on his back. He pushed up at the solid material right above him, but found it was extremely heavy. He could lower its mass with biotics, but he needed a bit more room to move his arms to execute it.

He drew in a long breath and braced hands against the ceiling. Utilizing any strength his battered body could summon up, he pushed up, hoping to gain the few inches he needed to unleash his biotic move. He strained hard, unwillingly letting out a loud grunt and feeling the veins in his head throbbing from the pressure. The metal surface shifted a few inches, and Kevin reeled his right arm back to thrust it forth again before the ceiling could fall and crush him. He coated the entire piece in a low-mass field, decreasing its weight significantly. With another strenuous lift, he pushed the material up higher and higher. When a beam of sunlight fell through and blinded him, he was relieved.

The piece of the hull, as Kevin was able see now, was hefted up enough for him to sit up. This caused the majority of his abdominal muscles to yell at him in protest and he wrapped his left arm around his waist in response. With one arm held high to prop up the hull, Kevin tried to stand despite the soreness racking his body. He managed to push the hull piece enough for it to tip over and fall away from him, and Kevin took a moment to steady himself and acquaint his system with the dull, but persistent pain it was enduring. He injected a bit of medi-gel to help soothe his damaged tissues, and the substance alleviated the pain enough for him to be able to walk.

Eyes open, Kevin looked around to see where he had landed. He couldn't see much right now, as he was still amongst the wreckage of his quarters, among other things. He sluggishly made his way over to where the secret door used to be, knocking over other metal obstacles so he could pass. He realized that he couldn't have been out for very long – there were some electrical components that were still on fire and spewing smoke. Stuffed in a crumpled corner, he found his pistol surprisingly intact, and he clipped it back on his hip where it belonged. A quick check on his back confirmed that his knife was still in its sheath, too. When he got to the opening that was once a door, he shoved one last metal piece that was resting against the other side of the wall so that he could see. A piece of charred, thick, torn fabric flapped in the breeze as it clung to the sharp extrusions of the wrecked door he was standing in. He pulled it down and tossed it behind him, eager to catch his bearings. As he gazed upon the not-so-distant mountain ranges nearby, he felt a sense of familiarity. Curious, he stepped out of the wreckage onto the dirt churned up by the crash. When he looked around, he felt his heart stop and the air in his lungs involuntarily escaped through his slack-jawed mouth.

He was back in the valley. _Their_ valley.

Everything around him looked like the aftermath of a massive battle that ended in orbital bombardment. Pillars of smoke rose from many of the numerous nearby crash sites, each with long trails of dirt that told of their angled descent. Craters and long cuts in the once grassy field indicated just how much destruction had rained down upon the picturesque valley he used to know. He suddenly felt the sickening urgency of needing to find Arla. He needed to find the ground team and make sure they were okay. He looked around frantically, trying to find the big pitched tent they were hiding out in. In his desperation, he tripped over a piece of metal rubble, driving his visor into the dirt. When he sat up and cleaned his helmet off, he looked to what it was he tripped over. He swallowed a sizable lump when he recognized Ralik's lab, broken and mercilessly crushed. It hit him, just then, what that fabric he tore down earlier was – that was from the very tent he was searching for.

Kevin stood up, hands gripping his helmet, on the verge of losing his mind. Was their luck really so awful? Of all of the possible place on this sizable pseudo-planet, the crash couldn't have landed on the tent! His mind constructed images of the trio's last moments, unaware of the fiery catastrophe as it obliterated the tent with them inside.

Kevin fell to his knees and started to punch the remnants of Ralik's equipment. "No! No! No! This. . . This isn't real. . . I can't. . . Arla. . . Arla? Arla!" He let out a scream mixed of frustration and despair. He was suddenly wondering if it was even a good thing that he survived. After he had tired himself out by beating the already destroyed electronics, he sat back in a daze. He fell still for a couple of minutes, numb. He heard a voice. Someone calling out. He was sure his mind was fabricating it, but it sounded a lot like Bela. There was no way she could have survived the crash. He manually shut off his helmet's audio repeaters to stop the noise, unaware of the disconnect in thought that proved. Interestingly, though, the voice stopped. Now aware that the voice _wasn't _in his head, he turned the audio back on and stood, attempting to locate where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from one of the adjacent crash sites, about seventy meters off to the side.

It was a far cry to think that someone might have survived, but he _had_ to know. He ran off in the direction of the voice, ignoring his aching muscles. He looked around the crash, trying to find the voice that had seemingly given up. Kevin was already thinking himself a fool for searching, but when he rounded the last backside corner, he found Bela lying face up, bottom half her body concealed beneath wreckage. Even more surprising, her head turned to face him.

"Kevin? Kevin is that you? Oh thank Keelah someone else survived!" Bela said, thoroughly relieved.

Kevin immediately knelt by her side and surveyed the damage her body took. "Bela? I thought. . ."

"That you were the only one left? Me too." She coughed and gurgled as blood intermingled with the air she was breathing. Her mask was heavily cracked all over, but there didn't appear to be any punctures. Most of the armor she had was crumpled or gone and her clan colors were charred, dirty, or torn horrendously. She was an absolute mess.

"How are you doing?" Kevin asked.

"This piece of debris has me pinned. . . I can't feel my legs." She strained to speak, her strength already quite low. "I don't think I can pull myself out even if I wasn't pinned."

"Alright, I think I can get this off," Kevin said while bringing more dark energy together for use. He surrounded the object in a low-mass field, squatted down, and pulled up with all he had. He lifted it high enough to get a look at her legs, but what he saw forced him to suppress his instinctual recoil to keep Bela from seeing. Her legs were not there; The only thing in their place was a pool of quarian blood. This piece wasn't pinning her, it had severed her at the hips. Wherever her legs were now, he couldn't see them. He slowly set the piece back down where it was, as it was the only thing keeping her from bleeding out instantly. He estimated she had a few more hours of a slow, painful death at best.

"How does it look, Kevin?" She asked, surprisingly unaware of the trauma.

He cleared his throat, kneeling beside her once more. "You'll be okay," he said vaguely.

"Don't be a bosh'tet, Kevin, I'm not a child! Tell me how it is!"

Kevin paused to take in a deep breath. She deserved to know. "Bela, the reason you can't feel your legs is because you don't have any. Something severed you at the hip during the crash."

Bela let her head fall back against the ground. She grasped and pulled at the loose clumps of dirt and grass as she let out a loud, agonizing cry that caused Kevin to close his eyes and turn his head. There was something about her pain he just couldn't bear look at. Perhaps it was the stark reality that she knew it was her end. He had witnessed many reactions to the inevitability of death over the years of his mercenary career, but none were like this. None were personal friends. None were crushed by defeat, by the knowledge that they'd never get to do the things in life they wanted to. They were always just. . . Afraid. Afraid for their own pitiable existence, or their money. This was scores different, especially in the solitary fact that Kevin felt for her.

After Bela had run out of breath, she fell silent, staring at the sky. This went on for a couple minutes or so before she said anything. "Now I'll definitely never get to link suits with anyone. . ."

Kevin forced a chuckle. "We could link right now. How about that?"

Bela tried to laugh, but quickly turned into a wet cough. She swallowed audibly and tried to speak again. "I think Arla might get jealous. . ." She groaned in agony from her wounds.

Kevin's facade quickly vanished. "I. . ." He paused and took another sharp breath in. "I don't think she. . ." He couldn't even finish.

She turned her head to look at him."Oh no. They didn't make it either, did they?" Her voice was quiet and forlorn. "Kevin. . . I'm so sorry. . ."

Kevin failed to respond. Those images of the entire tent getting obliterated by crashing chunks of the ship with Tyr, Ralik, and Arla still inside ate their way back into his mind. His response to Bela's pseudo-rhetorical question was well delayed, but he eventually shook his head in depressing silence.

She gurgled more blood and tensed from another wave of pain. "Then we're the last of the Xelvas'taersh. . . And now we have no way of getting back to the fleet. Does this mean we've. . . Failed?"

"No. We're not done yet." Kevin said, forcing himself to sound confident. "I think I know of a way to fix this, but I need. . . I need to concentrate." Kevin stood up and sighed. What he was about to ask Bela was borderline insensitive, and she might not even be able to, but he needed her to do it. "Bela, I know this is an absurdly tall order to ask of you right now, but. . ."

She shook her head wearily. "Kevin, look at me. Look at what's left. If there's anything you think I can do to help us, just ask."

"Alright. Can you. . . Sing me a song? Your voice is incredibly soothing, and I need it to help me focus." Truth as it was, his motives went unspoken.

Bela tilted her head, almost surprised. "I'll. . . I'll try my best. . ." she responded. She cleared her throat of as much blood, mucous, and anything else and began to sing a very somber tune in old khelish. Her voice was weak, as her strength was quickly waning, but she held an amazing tune despite her condition. Kevin started to pace, giving the idea that he was mentally working out some critical details. Her song, like times in the past, truly was soothing. He was straight up amazed that she could do this even now in her last hours, and he steadied his breath and heart against what he was about to do. He kept a loose eye on her visor as he paced, waiting for one moment he was sure was coming.

And then it came – she closed her eyes while she sang. The glowing dots disappeared behind the cracked visor while the song continued. Kevin moved to stand at the top of her head and he grabbed his pistol from his waist. He stared at the weapon as it unfolded, its mechanical whirrs unheard against the beautiful song filling the air. He drew in a breath and took aim at Bela's head, intending to grant her a quick and merciful death. He had been in this position before, but with terrified or unaware marks that needed executing. He laid his finger on the trigger and tugged – but it wasn't enough to shoot. The trigger finger quivered in place and Kevin was perplexed by his own inaction – again.

Why was it that he, once a stone cold killer, could not pull the trigger on a friend even if it was to grant them a mercy kill? He was death's advocate, a bringer of doom to those marked, and now for the _second time_ on this trip, he couldn't bring himself to take the shot. His face contorted as a result of an amalgam of strange emotions, confusion being at the forefront. This kind of death, the death of personal connections, was foreign to him. He'd never really been close to much of anyone before this whole mess began, save for Tarsil and Xavier. Even Xavier's death was disconnected compared to, though. This was direct, in the now, and under the barrel of his gun. If he didn't do it, though, he'd regret it for forcing Bela to live out her last moments in agonizing pain and misery.

He grit his teeth. He'd become soft. Too soft. He pressed his finger against the trigger once more, this time with intent to fire.

His train of thought, however, was broken by the fact that Bela's sweet voice no longer filled the air. Had she caught sight of him with the gun at her head? That would just make things worse. "Bela, keep singing. I've almost got it," he lied in the calmest voice he could muster. She didn't reply and Kevin looked down to see if she was looking at him. Her eyes were still closed, but she just wasn't singing anymore. "Bela? Bela?"

No response.

Kevin's entire face started to twitch as he came to realize that she was gone. She used her very last breath to sing him a beautiful song, and he couldn't even bring himself to have mercy on her. The gun in his hand started to shake and his arm fell to his side, nearly dropping the pistol. He knelt beside her once more and laid his open hand over her visor, an act usually used to close the eyes of the deceased. "Keelah se'lai, Bela'Merni vas Del'Kellius. Rest in peace. You've earned as much." His head slumped and he remained there for several minutes.

He was now truly alone. Left to live out the rest of his time on a God-forsaken false planet with nothing but the rolling storms and smoldering wreck to keep him company. He stood from Bela's lifeless body and turned around. The once beautiful valley was now torn to bits. Craters and long swaths of churned up dirt complimented by pillars of smoke and burning wreckage was the image he was left with. He felt cold. A breeze picked up, adding subtle, ambient white noise to the otherwise silent atmosphere. Below him, the ground vibrated and hummed for a short moment before the effect faded. He could only guess it was the rotating rings typical of any mass relay, just below the surface.

So much death and destruction. He thought himself a fool for thinking that they could battle a reaper and get away unscathed. The Alliance Fleet learned this lesson the hard way as well. He brought his pistol up and lightly smacked its broad side against the side of his helmet, fighting urges to just end things. He was not a suicidal man by any means, but he'd experienced enough in the last few hours to bring thoughts that would break a lot of men. He then considered Bela's question. Had they failed? Was the first Xelvas'taersh in three hundred years a failure in its mission? _Not as long as I draw breath,_ Kevin thought. _As long as I'm alive, we've achieved victory over the blasted machines. I _am_ the Xelvas'taersh now, and I need to do what I can to complete this mission._

In his head, it was Siri's voice. Confident. Wise. Stalwart. Even in death she still inspired him during his moments of dark confusion. He had to measure up for the sake of his squadmates, who sacrificed everything to make the galaxy just a little bit safer. He couldn't honor them if he was dead, especially not if he just gave up and ended himself. No. He would fight until death took him by force. First things first though – he had to take care of the bodies. He bent down and picked up Bela's corpse, the severed bottom half still dripping blood. He brought the body out to an area beyond the reach of the destruction and laid it down on a shallow green hill. Without a pause, he returned to the widespread wreckage to find the others.

After several hours, however, he was only able to find one other body. It was Tosh's, and it was gruesome. The body was bent and twisted in disturbing ways, parts of the limbs were missing, and the entire helmet had caved in to the point of rendering the head within a soupy mess. Nevertheless, Kevin took it to the same place he had brought Bela's body and he set it down. Knowing Tosh would no longer need it, Kevin removed the late quarian's intact right pauldron and affixed it to his own shoulder to replace the one he lost. It was one way he would remember them.

He sat down at the heads of the lifeless remnants of his squadmates and he overlooked the entirety of the scene from the outside. He found it unfathomable how calm it was compared to several hours back. The valley was a grim sight, but it was relatively serene. The leftover explosions had long since ceased and most of the fires had gone out, leaving only thin clouds of smoke. The repeated arrival and departure of vibration and hum from the massive rings below the surface were the only sounds left, save for the light wisps of breeze flowing through the leafy carpet.

Left with time to think, Kevin's mind automatically went to memories of Arla. Losing his ship was hard, but he could get over it. Losing his squadmates was depressing and might haunt him for a while, but still, he'd get beyond them. Losing Arla, however, was downright _soul-crushing_. If there was any one thing that this entire catastrophe had brought about that would drive him over the edge, it was this. It took him _years_ to get over Nor's death, and he didn't know Nor on _nearly_ the same level as he did Arla. He and Nor were just getting into the swing of things, but he and Arla were lovers. Counterparts. The closest of friends. His mind was becoming dominated by the sole idea that he was never going to see her again. Never feel her embrace, hear her pine for him, or gaze upon her striking beauty. As cliché as the notion was, Kevin really felt like he was missing a part of himself. Love was a powerful emotion, and it was ripping him up mercilessly.

Sitting silently on the grassy hill, Kevin was starting to mentally spiral out of control and he knew it. He nearly shot himself in the leg in a desperate bid to bring his psychological stability back into check, but was still sane enough to withhold the shot. Instead, he decided that he would task himself with projects to keep his mind busy. It was the only thing he could do now.

He decided to create a small memorial dedicated to his squad, and he dragged the bodies back into the center of the wreckage. By this point, the sun was beginning to set and the field was turning a warm shade of orange. Kevin spent an hour gathering small pieces of the hull, one for each deceased. Using his omni-tool to generate an etching laser, he inscribed the names of each member of the squad, their rank, species, and an accurate drawing of the Xelvas'taersh emblem in each piece. On Bela and Tosh's, he took their emblems and hung them around the top of the metal headstone. Using a piece of debris as a shovel, he dug a shallow grave for the bodies and buried them. He set up the memorial as a circle of metal monuments around the grave, each with their inscription facing outward. Just as the sun was making its final descent over the horizon, he took several steps back and looked over his work. Satisfied, Kevin did the only thing he knew to be proper: he gave them a long alliance military salute.

Afterward, he activated his omni-tool to document the memorial for when some future person found his body and collected his omni-tool data. "These brave soldiers, the first Xelvas'taersh of the Migrant Fleet since the exile, fought the galaxy's most fearsome foe and gave their lives achieving an impossible victory." Kevin then went on to verbally name each of those fallen – from Siri, the first to Bela, the last. "Let it be known that due to their efforts, the immediate threat of annihilation was ostensibly thwarted. We are _all_ in their debt." The sun shone its last rays upon the valley for the day and Kevin ended the recording.

Again, Kevin was left with time to think. Aware that this was still a problem, he immediately sought something to do. He felt restless, as though an internal itch was begging to be scratched. He needed to shoot something, but it had to be something satisfying. The only thing he could think to shoot that would give him an inkling of satisfaction was to head over the mountain range and shoot up every geth platform in the cluster, whether they were active or not. Clenching his fists and ignoring the soreness and exhaustion trying to seep into his mind, he began the long trek to the mountain range. He was fully determined to do this before his body gave up on him.

It took him three hours to reach the mountain range and an additional two to blaze a trail to the familiar summit where the survey device Tosh had whipped up still rested. He was hungry, tired, and he ached all over, but he continued to fuel himself with the driving desire to murder some synthetics. He willingly let this train of thought consume him, as it was better than the alternative. When he finally got to the base of the mountain and approached the cluster, he turned on his omni-tool's light and searched amongst the geth structures to metal bodies to rip apart. He knew he was at a fundamental disadvantage – the geth didn't need light to see – but he didn't care in the slightest.

Much to his dismay, however, the geth cluster was all but deserted. The structures were there, the equipment was still in place, and the transport vessels were still parked at the far side, but there was not one geth body to be found, active or otherwise. Kevin was getting increasingly frustrated. Nothing was going right. Even the one simple satisfaction he had left was taken away. Still anxious to do something, he made his way over to the three transport vessels landed in a triangle formation facing the cluster. With clenched fists, Kevin drew up some dark energy and let loose a powerful biotic throw on the back-left transport. With no barriers up, the throw hit the ship hard enough to make it teeter, even fall over.

Kevin fell forward, positively exhausted. He rolled over and sat himself back up, staring straight into the face of the forward-most geth transport vessel. He shook his head at how much they'd taken from him. With hardly anything left to keep him going, he laid back on the rocky ground and closed his eyes. He was finally ready to give in to sleep.

A few final thoughts crossed his mind as he felt his arms and legs start to tingle from being so overworked. _Those geth ships have drive cores. If only I could use them somehow so that I could see where this mass relay drops out._

Then it clicked.

Kevin's eyes, blood-shot and glossy, opened wide as adrenaline pumped through his system. He had remembered the program that Tosh uploaded to his omni-tool – the one that took control of an uninhabited geth device. All concern for his well-being vanished and he forced himself to stand. He activated his omni-tool and ran the prototype program with default settings. The program returned that no mobile platform nodes existed, but three viable ship-class platform nodes were found. Kevin caused the program to connect to the one up front, at which point the program denoted that it was swapping variables, methods, and emulator class lists in order to optimize functionality for flight platforms. Kevin was rather impressed at how all of these unknowns were automatically handled.

Finally, the program returned that it was establishing an encrypted connection to the host and the geth ship hummed to life. Connection established. A warning popped up, stating, [The geth ship-class platform graphical user interface is incomplete and some actions may only be possible through direct commands.] Kevin dismissed the warning and a fairly polished interface opened, showing a three-dimensional holographic render of the geth ship, with various points glowing blue. Kevin tested out the capabilities of the emulator by selecting the transport compartment door and commanding it to open. Lo and behold, it opened just as commanded.

Kevin smiled to himself and started to climb one of the many legs doubling as landing gear. It wasn't the Kellius, but having a ship capable of FTL and mass relay transit at his command felt like a crushing weight had been lifted from his chest. Using his magne-boots to allow his feet to grip the flat surface of the ship leg, he pulled himself up and into the cargo bay. It wasn't exactly spacious; all manner of clamps and hooks hung stiffly from the ceiling, probably normally used for holding and rotating out folded up geth mobile platforms. They did, however, provide ample grappling points for Kevin to hoist himself up with. Lighting was dim and blue, but it was there. He hopped and swung from rig to rig to bring himself to the flat ledge that went all the way around the inside of the bay just above door level. Once there, he pressed his back against the wall and slid down to sit.

He expanded the omni-tool controls for the geth ship into multiple holographic interfaces and arrayed them in a fashion similar to a shuttle's pilot control scheme, something he was at least familiar with. He browsed the many subsystems within the ship, mentally noting everything he had at his disposal. Since he was essentially viewing root access to a complex operating system shell, he saw every minute detail laid bare. It looked as though every tiny thing had to be controlled manually – no wonder the interface for ship platforms was incomplete. The discrete adjustments to the thrusters, the average voltage going into the drive core, the direction and focus of each of the projectile cannons. . . All of it needed his constant input since automated systems for ship platforms were incomplete or non-existent. Normally, hundreds of geth processes would be handling all of this. Kevin could certainly pilot this thing by himself, but without in-depth knowledge of how to pilot a ship of this size, he was strictly limited to the most basic of flying maneuvers. Docking would prove especially difficult.

Despite the implications of all the challenges ahead, Kevin continued onward with his takeover. He was suddenly rather thankful for all of those tech lessons his love took the time to teach him – he wouldn't have been able to get this far without them. His only concern now was finding where this relay shot to, and he was otherwise glad to have something that demanded so much of his attention. Satisfied with his preliminary run through, Kevin activated the kinetic barriers and adjusted them for optimal power draw. He likewise activated the mass effect drive core, making sure to keep the input voltage within acceptable limits for a ship of this mass. He shut the door below him to be sure it sealed and the room fell dark. Only an extremely dim navy blue ambiance remained, save for the yellow-orange lit corner he sat in. He laced his fingers and stretched, cracking his knuckles in the process. Sustained almost purely by the adrenaline generated by the thought of making it back, Kevin started inputting commands that caused the geth vessel to go airborne.

The liftoff was shaky. There were a number of things he was not used to paying attention to, like the pitch and yaw of the ship. These things were always controlled by stability VIs unless overridden, so he had to quickly adapt to keeping the ship straight. Luckily, a nasty crash was avoided, and he ascended fifty meters before activating forward thrust. Kevin was jarred against the backside wall due to the fact that there was no such thing as inertial dampeners on a geth ship. Synthetics didn't need to worry about such systems, at least not at the level of conventional flight. He sat himself upright and realigned his haptic interfaces. He rose in altitude rather quickly, having no reason to remain on the planet any longer. Once he was in orbit, the pitch and yaw became relatively pointless, and he let himself relax. He tapped into the ship's scanning systems to see how they saw the universe. At first, it was an indecipherable amalgam of colors, lines, and number data all streamed into a monitor at once. He was able to apply filters to this to reduce the noise, at least. _Thank you, Daro'Xen!_ There was no visible light spectrum scanner, oddly enough. It seemed only their land-based platforms used that. He filtered in a small collection of data that at least gave him something familiar to look at – the planet. This way, he'd be able to see what was going on once he dropped from the relay's influence.

Now that he was as prepared as he could potentially be, he sent a burst of data to the mass relay. Just as when the reaper was about to jump, arcs of the relay's energy filed out through the various caves spotting the mountains, and a massive bolt jumped to connect with the geth vessel. With one final thought back to his lost squadmates resting on the planet, the scan screen went blank and the familiar vertigo from the mass relay jump kicked in. The length of the jump was fairly significant, lasting a good fifty seconds as opposed to the usual thirty to forty. When he finally dropped into normal space and his scans started grabbing data, he was nearly floored when he discovered where it left him. On his screen were several distant blips indicating ships at long range, and a large, unique shape he suspected was within visual range.

It was that cursed rock, Omega.

Kevin suddenly had a major problem. A geth ship had just suddenly dropped out of FTL near Omega. Within minutes, he'd be marked for takedown with prejudice. Docking was certainly out of the question as well. He couldn't just FTL to the relay and jettison off to another one; he was not exactly riding in a ship welcome in organic space. Kevin quickly racked his blurry mind for a plan. He needed to get on Omega without getting shot pieces, and he couldn't be seen exiting the ship. Without a moment's hesitation, he hit full throttle towards the space station. There was but one ship between him and Omega – a simple batarian scout ship, normally used to keep an eye out for things like a geth attack, or silly invaders.

Kevin must have been in luck for a change, as the crew of that ship were likely distracted. He didn't see any of the usual maneuvers that indicated alarm, or any maneuvers for that matter. Keeping to his role, Kevin took aim with the projectile launchers on the underside of the ship and fired a pattern of full volleys. The scout ship's kinetic barriers failed in the first two, and the third saw the destruction of a sizable portion of its upper decks. The disabled vessel began to drift as parts floated away from its ruptures.

Kevin certainly didn't wait to see if that got their attention, since he knew it most certainly would. If the batarians didn't radio back to the asteroid, though, any reinforcements would be deployed too late to stop him. He aimed the nose of his ship dead center at one of the Blue Suns' internal loading bays, which appeared to have a ship inside. Perfect. He opened up the double doors below him and braced as the sealed air was immediately sucked out. With an unstoppable course set, Kevin shut down his omni-tool and inched towards the open door before pushing himself out. While he'd normally be scared stiff at launching himself out into open space _again, _his mind was so numb from physical and emotional exhaustion that the fear trigger failed. As the geth vessel continued to speed up and head for the cargo bay, Kevin let his momentum carry him towards the space station. He saw the logistics light frigate desperately attempt to back out of the bay, but it was far too late. The geth transport careened full speed into the ship and the internal docking bay. A smile crept its way onto Kevin's features from the fantastic explosion that resulted. He hoped that light frigate was loaded with expensive client cargo.

Satisfied, Kevin enveloped himself in a low-mass field and he pulled his pistol out. Using the same method of direction correction he used back in the asteroid belt full of geth mining ships, he used the shots of his gun as bursts of propulsion. He only had to eject one clip in order to direct himself to the outside edge of the destroyed bay, and almost a second to slow himself down enough to be able to grab the hull with his boots. He carefully made his way into the bay, whose damaged containment field was flickering ferociously as it tried to hold the atmosphere within. The pistol was holstered and he ran towards the nearest functioning door. He passed through it and was faced with several turians and humans in full hardsuits running at him. His first thought was to prepare for combat, but when he noticed the handheld fire extinguishers in their hands, he just kept going. His instincts proved correct – they were far too busy dealing with the unexpected crisis to care about a quarian running out of the bay. They probably had cargo they hoped to save. He also found that the Blue Suns checkpoint ahead was abandoned. Convenient.

As Kevin joined the screaming crowds of panicking civilians, he reached over and pulled a large, filthy, brownish-tan cloth that rested on top of a collection of crates. He was bringing his old practice of blending in back into play, and he wrapped himself in this disgusting robe to simulate the typical appearance of most quarians here in addition to concealing his armor and weapons. He had to shut off his olfactory filters within a few minutes – he had grown accustomed to the stale environmental air of the Kellius, and the rotten stench of Omega's streets were more than he could take right now.

As he made his way beyond the chaos he created, he sought out his old, rarely used apartment to see if his passkey still worked and whether or not it had been looted. During his walk, he continually got sideways stares and grimaces from nearly every person who looked in his direction. He had to remember that he was part of the trash-class now, and his attitude had to reflect that. He avoided looking any of them in the eye to give that air of escape. Finally, after many minutes of skulking like a rat, he arrived at his old apartment. Using his omni-tool, he sent the passkey to the door. To his relief, it opened. Even better, none of the sparse objects inside had been disturbed. Perhaps people knew that the tenant here did work for Aria, and no one wanted to get on her bad side for such a simple raid. More likely, it was because he had nothing of any serious value in here. Too much risk and almost nothing for a reward.

This wasn't the first time he'd returned to his apartment after a long trip. He hardly used this apartment, as he'd much prefer to stay on Illium or the Citadel. However, for situations like his current one, it was incredibly useful. There weren't a lot of spaces on Omega he could lay his head and not have to worry about hitmen or thugs sneaking up on him. He stepped into the doorway and let the door close and lock right behind him. He disarmed the many fatal traps that were waiting one more step in, one at a time. Once on the inside, he re-armed the traps in well-practiced pattern. Now he could step into his studio-sized apartment and lay his head down.

Kevin was mind-numbingly exhausted. He could hardly think straight now that the effects of the adrenaline had worn off. Between the fact that he hadn't eaten in many, many hours and the fact that he had used more biotics in those few hours than he normally did in a week, his brain was practically mush. He walked over to the bed grabbed the blanket at the closest two corners. He gave the entire thing a major flick and a raunchy cloud of dust fell off. Without one more thought, he dropped forward on the bed and fell asleep within seconds.

He awoke around sixteen hours later, his head in a fog. His limbs felt as though he had just gone through a rigorous workout regimen for the first time in years. His stomach yelled at him repeatedly for failing to feed it after such large amounts of activity. He could feel his hands trembling slightly as a result of the lack of nourishment. Naturally, his first order of business for the day was decided for him: Get food. He rolled over and stood from the bedside, stretching his muscles despite their painful objections. This endeavor was going to require some interaction with Omega's scummy stores; He never carried food in his apartment. It had a tendency to expire long before he ever came back to it. Instead, he headed for the bathroom to get a look at his persona from an external source.

The individual in the mirror was a stranger to him. He had never really bothered to look in the mirror at length since he had put the suit on, and the image he was presented with was even more alien now that he had the trashy rags on. He had the look, but if he was going to be interacting with anyone at all, he had to play the part. The odd nature of his suit's legs would make him suspicious enough, so he had to be convincing as a quarian in order to give the idea that he was one. There were pros and cons to being seen as a quarian, but the most obvious con was the status quo. Quarians weren't exactly welcome denizens, as they were seen as scavengers, vagrants, and thieves trying to get their way around for their pilgrimage. He was bottom rung on the food chain, just slightly above vorcha. It would be tough getting things done this way, but it would help him stay off the radar. He really wasn't in a position to be contending with the usual gangs right now.

"What are you looking at? I have as much right to be here as you," he said to the individual in the mirror with his best attempt at a quarian accent. With as much time spent around quarians as he's had in the past months, he'd actually picked up on the nuances of their general accent pretty well. As far as he was concerned, it was convincing enough. All that was left to do was go buy some food and see if his guise was solid. He began searching through his suit's many pockets, his urgency increasing with each empty pocket he came across. He finally found what he was looking for in a pocket on his right arm, and he pulled the credit chit out to see if it was still intact. He had forgotten he'd even put it in there.

He left the apartment with the chit in a more convenient waist pocket and headed towards the markets outside the VIP door of Afterlife. He had to be careful with his money – any quarians on Omega with significant amounts of credits were instantly regarded as thieves. There was one little inconsistency that he wasn't going to be able to avoid, however, and this was about to become evident.

"What do you want, suit-rat?" asked the ill-mannered batarian behind the counter.

"Just some food packs. Give me these three here, four of each." Kevin's mimicry of a quarian accent passed. The batarian went unsuspecting in that regard.

Then the four-eyed alien laughed. "I figured the labeling was pretty clear, but I suppose enough dirt on that bucket of yours would ruin your sight. This food is levo-based, kid. Get lost before you kill yourself."

"I know what it is. I want them anyways."

He leaned over the counter. "What the crap would a quarian do with levo-protein food, anyhow? Feed it to the vorcha to keep them out of his corner?" he laughed, amused by his own voice.

"Do you want my credits or not?" he asked, waving his chit.

"Hmph. Fine. Whatever tickles your fancy, kid."

Kevin bought his food and left in a hurry, not wanting to seem like he was there to challenge anyone. He didn't like playing the pissed-on social reject, but it was necessary for now. He promptly returned to his apartment and proceeded to lay the packaged food out over his dusty table. He took his visor off with the intent to eat his food like a human for a change, knowingly exposing himself to the thick, heavily recycled air of the space station. He had no intention of losing his own immune system due to lack of use, so he decided that he'd take the mask off whenever he was in the apartment. After two of the packs had been heartily consumed, Kevin spent the next couple hours cleaning up his living space. He had no idea how long he was going to be here this time, and he certainly wasn't going to put up with _this_ level of crud. Thankfully, this project went along uninterrupted.

When he finished, he sat down at his small round table and opened an empty text document on his omni-tool. It drew up a holographic keyboard on the table below the projected screen and Kevin started typing. This was one of his favorite ways to utilize downtime; he'd essentially perform a brain dump of all the matters that needed his attention and type them up in the document.

Current ongoing matters:

Quarian disguise – Continue practice of mannerisms and culture; also, pick a freakin' name

Neural decay – Find a way to contact TIM? Get this crap fixed ASAP

Living like a king/bad news – Get in contact with Tarsil

The Migrant Fleet – Find them to relay the results of the Xelvas'taersh mission

Kevin's typing stalled. He brought a hand up to clutch the dangling Xelvas'taersh icon on his left arm. He decided that until he got in contact with the Migrant Fleet, he'd cover up his emblem. He wasn't going to take it off, as he felt it would dishonor his squad if he did, but he couldn't have it flopping in the breeze anymore. If someone were to see it, they might ask questions. He got up and sought out an unused, folded up white sheet in a cabinet. He gave it a fervent flick to unravel it, letting it slowly settle flat on the floor. He used the omni-tool's cutting laser to slice off a thin strip all the way down the long side. He picked up the thin piece and began wrapping it around his bicep, emblem and all, making it look like a crude bandage job used to seal a suit breach or something. It was a little awkward, since the shape hardly conformed to the roundness of his arm, but it would suffice. Satisfied, he sat back down to continue his mental analysis.

Jobs – Get into working status on Omega

Operation Quiet Rep – Bring back the benefits of being a reliable workhorse for Aria [KEEP IT

MINIMAL]

'Commandeer' – Acquire a new ship to allow movement/quick escapes when necessary

With that settled, Kevin had himself a handsome little questlog. Some of these issues were clearly more difficult to resolve than others, but they all needed to be worked out. He saved the list and closed it before heading out of his apartment. Afterlife was always a great way to find strange contacts with who-knows-what in the galaxy, so he figured he could hang around whichever part of the club he was allowed in in hopes of finding information. But before that, he had a few calls to make. He redirected himself towards the "Databurst Lounge", a tavern of sorts that specialized in hosting groups of terminals that allowed high-priority data stream communications anywhere in the galaxy through use of the extranet. For a fee, of course, which was charged per call and limited to somewhere around ten minutes before premiums got involved.

After paying the receptionist for two calls, he stepped up to an isolated terminal and sent an audio call out to Tarsil Dolannus. He made very sure that no one was watching him and he removed his visor so that Tarsil wouldn't hear the modulation. He wanted to make sure Tarsil knew it was him, and he knew the salarian information broker had keen hearing. Kevin gagged the moment the stench of the air hit his nostrils, but he choked it down and acclimated as best as he could. The moment the words 'connection established' were highlighted, Tarsil's voice came through the terminal.

_"Dolannus information services. What information can I sell you today?"_

"How about some details on the Melkanis relay? I hear that's hard to come by these days."

_"My word. Kevin, is that you?"_

"Sure is, old friend. Listen, you might want to head to the back. I've got good news and bad news."

There was a pause while the salarian relocated as he let out a nervous sigh. _"I'm always right to worry when you start a conversation like that. Give me a quick second to secure the channel. . . Alright, we're secure. Were you able to reach the relay?"_

"We did, and I've got quite a bit of information I'd like to send you."

_"It'll take me a few minutes to set up a high priority stream. Looks like you're on Omega, if I'm reading this right. How's Ralik holding up, then? He never did like that pit."_

Kevin braced himself to deliver the news. "That's the bad news. Ralik. . . He didn't make it. It got messy on the far side. Real messy."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. _"Poor Ralik. . . Just tell me it wasn't his own fault." _This was the most somber Kevin's ever heard his friend get.

"It wasn't, and I'd want to get a look at that crystal ball he had if he even saw it coming. I'll fill you in on the details if I ever make it off this rock. Just know that he died defending his squad."

_"A valiant end. . ."_

"His old STG squad would have been proud to call him such."

_ "That means a great deal. Thank you, Kevin, that will help me put his memory to rest. Now then, what was the good news?"_

"The information I'm sending to you now should be worth a fortune to the right people." The data stream connected and Kevin picked out his data drive to plug it in. The upload began immediately.

_"How does a sixty to forty split sound? You did most of the work, after all."_

"Sixty to forty? You are most generous, kind sir. You still have my account information?"

_"But of course. Had to put it on ice while you were out, but it'll take less than a day to get it back to operational status. I'll buzz you when it's wired in."_

"Excellent. I think I'll be hanging around here for a while, Tarsil. There's a few things I need to look up and whatnot, so it might be better for me to stay off the grid for a while."

_"Sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to having a few drinks with you when you got back. Keep in touch though, yes?"_

"Sure thing." A light chime indicated that the upload had finished. Kevin pulled his storage device and pocketed it. "Give that data a look-over and tell me how the negotiations go."

_"Will do."_

There was a brief lull in the conversation before Kevin spoke up again. "Hey Tarsil, I need a favor."

_"That's all I do for you Kevin. Give, give, give,"_ Tarsil quipped.

"Actually, a couple favors. I need to know the current location of the quarian Migrant Fleet, and I need to contact The Illusive Man."

_"I'll admit, I'm a little weirded out by that first one, but that second one scares the crap out of me. Why would you want to get in contact with _them_?"_

"A matter of life and death, believe it or not. Ties in with my being an ampless biotic. I. . . Learned more about myself than I bargained for during the trip."

_"Hmm. Well, I trust you well enough to believe you know what you're doing. Give me a second to look up the necessary information." _A couple of minutes passed, edging Kevin uncomfortably close to the ten minute limit on his call. Luckily, Tarsil responded in time. _"Alright. According to my sources, the Migrant Fleet is actually on the move. Unless you have a way of getting off that dump now, you'll have to wait until someone locates them again."_

"Crap."

_"Not happening? Come on, Kevin, I know you're capable of acquiring a ship. Look at the last one you picked up. Where's that one?"_

Kevin shook his head out of habit. "The game has changed, Tarsil," he said, the phrase having more significant meaning than its words.

_"Huh. That bad? That's not good. Err, anywho, I just transmitted an address that should connect you to whatever front Cerberus is using at the moment."_

"Thanks. I owe you one."

_"Five, if I'm keeping correct count."_

"My limit's up. I'll talk to you later, Tarsil."

_"Good luck, I hope I'll see you soon. And Kevin? Take care – those Cerberus folks are not to be taken lightly."_

The connection was manually severed just before he crossed into premium territory. Kevin brought a three-fingered hand to his chin and stroked his hardly-grown stubble for the first time in months. He wasn't sure how he was going to handle this conversation with the big man of the shady group, as the last time didn't quite end in his favor. He had little choice in the matter, though, and he decided to wing it like he did for lots of things. He entered in the address Tarsil sent him in the outgoing audio call field and hit the connect button. Within seconds, a connection was established and a female on the other end greeted him most formally.

_"Thank you for contacting Terrium Logistics! What can I do for you today?" _Kevin noticed that the connection was immediately secured the moment she spoke.

"I need to speak with the Illusive Man."

_"May I ask who is calling, and what business this is filed under?"_

"Kevin Folner, regarding a certain research project on natural human biotics."

_"Thank you. Please wait one moment while I attempt to access your information." _The pause only lasted a minute or so. _"I'm sorry, Kevin, but it seems the research project you specified does not exist."_

Kevin's brow rose. Something wasn't right – he was being deflected. "What? Can I get more information on that? I'm fairly certain it's still running, though the project is easily over twenty years old."

There was another pause. _"Mmm. . . It seems the project you specified has been disbanded as little as three weeks ago. All assets have been liquidated or repurposed. I'm sorry, Kevin, there is nothing more I can do for you. Thank you for calling Terrium Logistics!"_

The call ended before Kevin could inquire further. He didn't like this. There was only one team in the entire galaxy qualified and knowledgeable about Kevin's condition, and they've just been. . . liquidated. Judging how Cerberus has handled things in the past, he could only assume they've been killed to prevent liabilities. He was now officially out of options, and the ticking timebomb in his head was a constant reminder of this. He replaced his visor and left the lounge before the depressing thoughts could bombard him again.

It seemed like nothing was going right. Most of the major things he had hoped to get taken care of were shot down before he could really do anything about it. All he had left was the meager setup he had here on Omega, and calling it meager was being generous. He had a decent sum of money in his chit, but he decided to ration it. It wasn't enough to buy him a ship, and the only place he could go without one was back to the Citadel with Tarsil. Getting his place back as a reliable mercenary was going to be long work, especially since he was starting from scratch under a new guise, but establishing a usable alter ego here had too many benefits to pass up.

But why keep the quarian getup? It was understood there were going to be cons to keeping up this image, but more keep cropping up the longer he stayed in the suit. He had a name as Kevin, but he had a lot of enemies, too. This existence as a quarian had nothing – no friends, no enemies, and no reputation. A real blank slate. Even as Kevin, he'd probably just hang around Omega taking jobs in hopes of scoring some information on The Migrant Fleet. In the end, there were two main reasons to why he ended up deciding to stay with the disguise. The first was that a state of anonymity was preferable in his current situation, and the second was that he simply could not discard the identity. This suit was part of him now, and it was all he had left of his squadmates.

Feeling that some pounding music would help him calm his nerves, he stepped into the back of the surprisingly short line into Afterlife. It was so short, in fact, that it only took him forty-five minutes to get to the front. When the elcor guarding the cutoff point let him through, he started up the stairs. Standing in his usual spot, the krogan guard, Targold, eyed him with typical ferocity. It seemed it was somewhat unusual for quarians to head into the club, so he gave Kevin special attention – enough to step in his way.

"Easy there, tiny," the krogan growled at Kevin, his low voice rumbling.

"What can I do for you?" Kevin asked in the closest thing to his best quarian accent.

"Haven't seen you around before. Figured that I should acquaint you with the guidelines to not getting my gun up your arse." The word 'acquaint' was coupled with a slight jab from the muzzle of the shotgun he was holding.

"I know what they are. Can I please go now?" Kevin was finding it hard to keep the secret of who was really under the suit from his old friend.

Targold squinted at him, measuring whether it'd be worth messing with the whelp of a quarian or not. Stepping back to his normal position, he warned, "Get out of my sight before I show you anyway, runt."

Foregoing any further quips, Kevin simply strode on inside. He went straight for the dance floor, but he did not join in. He garnered far too many odd looks and scoffs to be in the middle of a crowd right now. Instead, he opted to lean against a wall nearby and bounce his head to the deep, throbbing beat of the current song. From his distanced vantage point, he could still make out the faces of the many individuals happily writhing and bouncing in the crowded areas. In the midst of the sweaty, partially drug-happy masses, he spotted Maera. It seemed his old dancing companion was still coming here on a regular basis, finding any reason to get lost in the music and physical contact.

Kevin wanted to be out there dancing with her, but he knew he couldn't. It was a tough decision, but he had to stay consistent with his identity in order to keep the air of suspicion from breathing down his neck. Breathing down his neck. Yeah, she did that too. Perhaps the nostalgia of Afterlife was a bad idea in retrospect, but it was one of the best places to find people who needed things done. Before long, he was getting pestered by a human and turian from the Blue Suns.

"Well well. Looks like they'll let _anyone_ into Afterlife these days," the human spat.

A scowl crept onto the turian's boney features. "Was it the guards or Aria that's gone soft? Should have told a suit-rat like you to beat it."

Kevin let loose an exasperated sigh. These two have obviously had a few too many drinks, but were too afraid of pissing off the wrong person until a quarian walked in. "I don't mean to ruin your perfect, scummy lives, but I'm not in the mood to be dealing with racist bigots right now."

The human feigned surprised and alarm. "Look at that, Polnus, the kid has fight in him!"

"Wonder just how much fight he's got?"

"Keelah, you guys are idiots. Do yourselves a favor and pick on someone less vulnerable."

"So much for that fight," the turian said as he nudged his human buddy.

"Oh, we'll find someone else vulnerable, alright. Why don't you do us a favor and tell us where your quarian girlfriend is so she can fight your fight for you. Freakin' pansies, the lot of you."

Kevin nearly lost it. He was clenching his fists so tightly that he heard his knuckles crack. Dark energy started to build up, but Kevin was only mildly aware of it. Despite this, Kevin maintained composure. He was doing fairly well up until the turian's last comment.

". . . You do have a girlfriend, right? She's not already dead or anything? I'm not the necrophiliac type."

Kevin slowly stood himself up from the wall and faced the two soon-to-be-victims, fists by his sides. He knew biotic displays in here would be a bad idea for a plethora of reasons, so he focused his gathered energy on a subtle barrier in case the guards decided to use bullets in an attempt to stop him.

"I think we struck the right chord, Polnus! He's ready for a beating!"

"You go first, Higgens, I want to see this."

The human nodded and came at Kevin while cracking his knuckles. Kevin could see a few guards in the distance already eying the situation, so he made absolute sure that the other guy made the first move. It was more beneficial for him to do it this way, regardless. The first mistake the human made was visible from the start – he assumed Kevin was just going to stand there. When 'Higgens' stepped forward to launch his straight-on right handed punch, he left a comical amount of open space inside. Kevin pushed the man's extended arm towards the ceiling and followed up with a quick and powerful one-two punch to the diaphragm and the throat. Higgens collapsed on the spot. The turian, Polnus, was a little slow on figuring out what had happened, so he didn't even come at Kevin until his friend was lying on the floor.

This guy made the terrible mistake of pulling a hidden pistol on Kevin as he was approaching. Naturally, Kevin wasted no time in taking care of this potentially hazardous situation, even as the guards were starting to make their way over. He stepped forward to bring the pistol within arms-length and grabbed the turian's wrist just as the gun finished assembling itself to full form. He twisted the wrist at an extreme angle, causing the turian sharp pain and forcing him to drop the weapon. Another stride forward brought Kevin behind the adversary, and he brought the grasped wrist with him. A second quick twist pinned the turian arm against his own back, but Kevin wasn't done here. He reached over the high back of the blue and white armor and grabbed a hold of the longest of his head fringes. He gave it a merciless yank, causing the turian to immediately fall hard on his back. A final solid punch to the face of the assailant put him out for at least a couple hours.

"Bosh'tet," Kevin muttered as he stood up straight. As much as he would have rather killed them, it was still quite satisfying to feel the disabling impact of his fist on their person. He looked around briefly to see a number of eyes settled on what just went down, but they seemed satisfied that those two were put in there place and even more so that it was all handled before stray shots ruined the party. He went back to leaning against the wall by the time a pair of assault rifle-bearing turians showed up.

"These two giving you trouble?" One of them asked him.

Kevin looked down at the unconscious drunkards then back up at the guards. "Not anymore."

The second turian shook his head a the two on the floor. "The Blue Suns probably won't be too happy with you, but these guys had it coming. Nice handwork there, quarian. We'll dump these two on the street where they belong."

"Thanks," was Kevin's accented, monotone reply.

"Come see one of us later. Normally we don't ask quarians if they're looking for work, but you seem like you can handle yourself better than most. Who knows, maybe Aria will have jobs for you at some point. We always need someone to handle the dirty work."

Kevin raised a brow, his interest piqued. "I'll do that. I appreciate the offer."

The turians both nodded to Kevin and dragged the rabble out of the club. Finally, something went right – he was already being considered for work. He was surprised at how quickly this came about, especially considering his place in the status quo. At least he had _that_ base covered for now. He waited an hour or two before going to see those guards about some work. The job wasn't a hit, but it _was_ a non-lethal takedown of a couple punks that had agitated the queen of Omega. A turian male and human female, each hardly out of their teens. A small job with negligible reputation – just the way he wanted it.

If there was anything that came out of the recent catastrophe that he could consider 'good', it was that it left him emotionally deadened. He used to have _some_ reservations about taking down young people, but that was long gone from him now. He feared that his uncomfortable and confusing run-ins with death taking his squadmates would throw him off, make him lose his nerve. He was already showing soft edges, and it bothered him. As far as he was concerned, the loss of the Kellius and his squadmates was indirectly his fault – he had the chance to shoot the imposter masquerading as captain Siri'Krotel, yet he didn't. Kar got pumped full of machines because he failed in his duty to make the critical decision and take the shot. Those very machines prevented him from steering the Kellius to safety. Perhaps being emotionally vacuous wasn't the healthiest frame of mind, but he knew that there were going to be unsavory jobs he was going to take that would require him to take full advantage of it.

Not wanting to deal with this right now, Kevin took to the dance floor. He failed to care when a small circle of the gyrating masses thinned away from him when he joined. The guards didn't bother him much after his little display with the rabble, but that was more because they knew he wasn't there to draw out or exacerbate bad situations. He simply handled them. He intentionally lost himself in the music and let his thoughts and burdens fall away. He stayed there so long that people stopped actively avoiding him. It was at least five hours before he finally left for his apartment.

As he laid on his bed, he considered his experiences with the giant sentient machine. That tone of absolute superiority still sent a chill down his spine. Worst of all, it made him well aware that others were coming, and Kevin hadn't done anything to disable the mass relay before leaving. There was nothing he could do about it now, though, and he had to simply let the thoughts go. He'd be on guard, though, if any giant ships started dropping from a relay-based FTL trip right outside the doors of Omega. He'd probably have less than a fraction of a chance of taking one out, but that didn't stop him last time. Not to mention that his deep hatred for the geth now grew to any form of sentient machine. Maybe he'd try to alert the denizens of Omega to their arrival Kevin gave up on all this pointless thought and let himself drift to sleep.

And so life went on. He continued to play the role of a post-pilgrimage quarian creatively named Kev'Renlof vas Del'Kellius, working his existence through Omega's terrible and trashy social culture. He gained a small reputation as 'The Suit', a colloquial name that mixed his quarian appearance and efficiency of a top-tier hit squad that wore formal suits. When the eighty thousand credits from his share of the successful sell of the information rolled into his specialized account, he told Tarsil to put it back on ice. He started earning enough from his jobs to sustain his place in Omega comfortably, and he didn't want anyone tracking that information and finding his real identity, or worse, stealing it. He settled into the deplorable existence that the space station perpetuated once again, though he was able to regain the mercenary roots he had as his true self. Perhaps one day he'd get off of the rock and go back to being Kevin while enjoying a long vacation on the Citadel, barring any reaper invasions. For now, however, he disappeared amongst the culture, lost in the usual nonsense it came with. He would remain this way until something significant would rouse him from his ill-conceived complacency.

Knowing Omega, though, that was going to happen sooner rather than later.


	39. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

"Just as we thought," Ralik said as he ran into the cave and hopped into the passenger seat of the Skimmer with jittery haste. "The geth are still on our trail. I've never seen them walk that fast before."

Tyr waited until the salarian was inside before starting the engines. "Any sign of the commando team or the Kellius?"

"None. The reaper ascended into space a while ago, but I haven't seen anything since. Still can't reach Welkas, either." Ralik peered over the back of the seat to find Arla laying down across the Skimmer's middle seats.

"She fell asleep again just after you left," Tyr noted as he gunned the engines and blasted out of the mouth of the cave. They descended half-way to the base of the mountain they were hiding in before they turned around and headed towards the summit. "We might have better luck with the comms up high."

They had been running from the geth ever since the commando team came in direct contact with the reaper. The synthetics came in force and were indeed armed to the teeth. Ralik was forced to get Arla and Tyr to the Skimmer, which was accidentally – yet conveniently – left behind. They didn't have the manpower to contend with a single large wave of geth, and had been trying to whittle their numbers down by strafing their flanks with little success. They resorted to finding a cave far to the south of the basecamp just to catch a moment to get their bearings.

When they finally settled at the top of the mountain, Tyr shut the engines down again. He was taking every possible precaution to make it harder for the geth to track them, and loud engines were counter to that paradigm. Both he and Ralik accessed their omni-tools almost immediately and checked to see if they could get any connection to the Kellius.

Ralik shook his head . "This is becoming. . . problematic."

At that moment, Arla rose from her makeshift bed in the back and wearily held onto the backs of the front seats. "Still nothing?"

"Nothing from anyone," Tyr said while standing up to look for geth movement. Finding none, he hopped down from the driver's seat onto the rocks. "We have to give them more time. I imagine they're having some difficulties."

"Wait, I have something!" Ralik shouted. "It's the Kellius!"

Tyr opened up his omni-tool again and contacted the ship. "Welkas, it's Garloh. What's your status?"

_"Hey Chief! I was just contacted by the commando team. They're requesting immediate evac. I'm on my way right now."_

All three sighed at once just before the Kellius appeared over a distant mountain range, approaching low and fast. It skimmed right over their heads with blazing speed, causing everyone to duck and the two quarians to instinctively grab a hold of their hoods as the following blast of air knocked them around. Immediately thereafter, the frigate ascended sharply, quickly disappearing against the cyan of the sky.

"This is good news!" Ralik said with a nod towards the other two. "They must have completed their mission!"

Tyr crossed his arms. "Good, then maybe they can get down here and help us with these cursed synthetics. I'm getting tired of running from these things time after time."

"You're the strategist, aren't you?" Ralik asked. Tyr simply replied with a sideways look. "So strategize. How are we going to handle these things until they get back?"

"It's not that simple, Dolannus. We're outnumbered, outgunned, and we have a non-combatant. We need to keep avoiding them for now."

"Bah."

Arla pulled herself a bit higher on the seats so she could see Tyr. "I'm. . . Ah. . . I'm not a non-combatant, Tyr, I can help you two fight."

Tyr chuckled. "I admire your persistence, lieutenant, but you're not in any condition to be fighting geth. If you took a hit, the additional infections would certainly be fatal. It's out of the question. Not to mention that Kevin would have my head on a platter if I let you."

Ralik shook his head and had chuckle of his own. "Sorry. I'm still trying to wrap my head around something."

Arla looked to Ralik. "What?"

"Kevin? Emotion? Feelings? This planet's atmosphere must be getting to my head." He stared back at Arla. "Yours too!"

Arla heaved herself up and reached over the seat, giving Ralik a shove into the dashboard. Ralik could only help but laugh. Their antics ceased when they realized how silent Tyr had been. They fully expected him to belittle them, and when he didn't, they looked over to find him staring at the sky to the west. They both noticed a faint red reflection come and go on his visor.

"What the. . . Did anyone see that?" Tyr asked, highly alarmed.

Ralik and Arla also looked to the sky. "What was it, Tyr?" Arla inquired.

"A brilliant red line shot across the sky. I'm sure the origin was somewhere in orbit. I think I saw fire, too." He spared no time in getting his omni-tool open. He tried to raise the Kellius once again and looked to the sky for any more activity.

A second crimson line appeared across the sky. This time, explosions were clearly visible some distance from its origin.

"Keelah. . ." Arla whispered.

"That. . . That better not be what I fear it is," Ralik said, his voice shaky.

For a short time, there was nothing else to see, save for smaller bursts of orange light around where the explosions were. They felt the ground start to vibrate and saw numerous arcs of electricity emerging from the mouths of several caves on a distant mountain range. The electricity danced across a seemingly predetermined path on its way to the summit, whereupon it collected and shot forth into the sky as a massive bolt. The vibration in the ground quickly settled after that.

The three were dreadfully silent, afraid that any misspoken word would cause something bad to happen. Within a few seconds of the burst of energy leaving the planet-relay, a spectacular blue-white explosion filled a good portion of the sky. The sphere of released energy made its way to the surface where they stood, and hit them with a concussive blast powerful enough to knock each of them over and shove the grounded Skimmer a few meters.

"Augh. Was that the reaper's eezo core?" Tyr asked Ralik as he slowly stood to his feet.

Ralik was already standing back up, even jumping with one fist in the air. "That was it! The commando team did it!"

Victorious laughs and high-threes were passed around, but their joyous celebration quickly came to a halt as a number of falling fireballs appeared in the sky, clumped together and heading for the surface. They soon discovered that the fireballs were not falling debris from the reaper, but instead all manner of pieces from the Kellius. Arla and Ralik both hopped out of the Skimmer, wordless and numb at the sight.

"No. . ." Arla said under her breath. "No! No! Kevin!" She took two quick steps forward, staring in pure horror as the pieces exploded again upon impact with the surface where their basecamp sat. Her clenched hands trembled fiercely and she fell to her knees, screaming Kevin's name with one long breath until her throat could no longer take it. This brought on another coughing fit, forcing her to fall forward onto all fours as she repeatedly drove a fist against the solid rock of the mountain. When the fit passed, she went back back to kneeling and looked down into the valley where smoke and fire had taken over. She slumped to the ground, as her legs had ceased trying to hold her up.

Tyr and Ralik were speechless. Everyone had just lost more than they could bear.

"No. . . Kevin, you can't leave me. . ." Arla whispered while staring at the ground. "Not now. Please. . ."

Tyr placed a hand on Arla's shoulder and she turned her head away from him. "I'm sorry, Arla, but there's nothing we can do."

She shakily stood to her feet with her hands covering her visor. "We- We need to go down there and search for survivors! We need to go now!"  
Ralik looked at Tyr and released a dragging breath, shaking his head slowly.

Tyr's head sunk forward for a brief moment before he looked back to Arla. "Arla, you know as well as I do that no one – human, quarian, anything – could have lived through that crash."

Arla threw Tyr's hand off and spun around. "No! No, you're wrong! Kevin would have found a way! He would have- He wouldn't leave. . ."

Tyr shook his head. "Kevin's a stubborn bosh'tet, but he's not invincible. As much as it pains to say it. . ." Tyr paused to gather his nerve. "You have to let them go." He took a step closer to Arla and placed his hands on her shoulders. "All of them."

Arla let herself fall onto the chief. He wrapped her in his arms and heard a sound he'd never thought he'd hear from his lieutenant. Weeping. Not just the subtle sounds of a withheld cry, but the full emotion only told by sobs. Ralik turned his head and rested a hand against the front of his mask. They were all facing the grim truth that the four on the ship were nothing short of smears on the churned up dirt.

As Tyr took a moment to compose himself, Ralik heard the dreadful stuttering sound of geth in the distance. He peeked over a cliff to look down and he could see tiny white spots all over the mountainside. He let out a sigh of exasperation and went back to Tyr and Arla while shaking his head. This wasn't what they needed right now. "We have to go."

Tyr sluggishly turned his head to Ralik and nodded. Arla was in no mood to move, so he pulled her along to the Skimmer. They got inside, kicked on the engines and blasted down the other side of the mountain. "We'll have to find a place where we can take a moment to catch some downtime. We need to think about our next course of action."

"What for?" Arla asked, pure depression lacing her tone. "Everyone else is dead and we have no ship."

Tyr sighed. "We're not dead, lieutenant. We're beaten, but we're not dead. _We're not done yet_."

Arla looked to the floor of the Skimmer and recalled when Kevin said something similar. When _she_ said it back to him. It only made her hurt now, thinking of his face, but there was truth in those words. They still had a mission to complete. The problem was that she was having a difficult time thinking about the mission. Images of Kevin getting crushed amidst the burning wreckage filled her mind. Images of his lifeless body caught under rubble and broken metal. Images of him calling out to her with his last breath. It was almost too much to take and she threw her head into her hands, shaking her head violently.

Ralik pointed off to a dense grove of trees some distance from the mountain. "There. If we can get the Skimmer inside that grove, we should be able to stay for a while. None of the geth can follow our trail while they're busy on the other side of the mountain."

"One would like to think so," Tyr said in disbelief. They thought they'd lost the synthetics several times already, and he didn't think this time would be any different. At the very least, there would be a decent distance they had to cover this time. Tyr steered the Skimmer rather skillfully through the trees, all three of them ducking behind the windshield to avoid the numerous branches that would otherwise catch them in the front of their helmets. At the center of the grove was a picturesque clearing, only about four time the size of the Skimmer. Tyr set the hovercraft down on the far side and shut down the engines yet again.

They stayed there until nightfall, finally glad that the geth were no longer in pursuit. Ralik had climbed a tree after the sun no longer held sway over the surface to find out if he could see any of the geth, and he did. There were small lights darting about the surface of the mountain still, and it was inferred that the geth were still trying to find them there. A few hours later, they climbed into the Skimmer to use it as a place to rest their heads for the night.

Tyr was having a hard time pushing Arla to keep going. It seemed to him that she had all but given up the will to live. He felt for her, and it was hard seeing a close squadmate's morale so utterly crushed. He wanted to spend some time grieving as well, but they couldn't. Not yet. At least Ralik was following along well enough.

Just as they all got settled and were ready to fall asleep, they could feel the oscillation from the underground rings climb sharply in frequency. There was a series of near-constant flashes in the sky that resembled distant lightning, but this ended with a large bolt shooting deep into the black abyss of the sky. As soon as the bolt shot, a faint blue line appeared, heading off in the direction of the galaxy.

"What the heck was that?" Ralik asked. Apparently he noticed that too.

Tyr looked over the back of the seat. "What do you think, Arla? Did you see that?" Arla was laying on her side, curled up tight and facing the back of her seat. She didn't respond. Either she was asleep, or she couldn't care any less about funny lights in the sky. Disappointed, Tyr sat back down. "I think someone, or some_thing_ used the relay."

"There's only one entity I know of that is still capable of relay-based travel," Ralik stated, his tone dire.

"The geth."

"Indeed. We now have a problem, Tyr."

"Yes. If that geth vessel was able to use the relay, and this relay drops off somewhere in the galaxy, that means the geth on that sphere can too. The Migrant Fleet is in immediate danger now."

"If only we had a vessel capable of relay-based travel. . ."

"We might," Arla noted impassively, having already sat up. "That is, if there are any geth transports still grounded at the cluster."

Ralik tilted his head. "But how exactly are we going to get through the relay using a grounded ship?"

"Not grounded," Tyr commented, seeing where Arla was going. "Controlled flight."

"I'm still not following this," Ralik stated, crossing his arms.

Arla took in a deep breath and let go of it slowly. "Tosh was given a program from admiral Xen's team at one point. It was designed to emulate a series of geth processes that took direct input from an omni-tool. Remember?"

Ralik looked to the sky for a few seconds before he snapped his gaze to Arla amidst a nod.

Tyr continued this train of thought to its natural conclusion. "If there's at least one grounded vessel left, we can take it for ourselves and see where this relay drops off. I'm guessing we can all fit in the transport chamber during flight."

"So we really _can_ make it back?" Ralik asked rhetorically. Tyr nodded anyways. "This is exceedingly spectacular news! Will we wait until morning to make our move?"

Tyr thought for a second then shook his head. "No. If the geth give up on their search and head back to the cluster, we'll have to deal with them while hoping they don't take the ships for themselves. We need to move now if we want our best shot at this. Agreed?"

The other two nodded and Tyr turned back to sit normally in the driver's chair again. He spurred on the engines and made his way through the backside of the grove. Tyr knew that he would have to take one heck of a wide detour if he wanted to avoid detection, and he did so. Even in the Skimmer, the trip to the geth cluster took a couple of hours longer than it would have to go straight there. By the time they were close to arriving, the sun was causing a faint orange glow on the horizon. They armed themselves in anticipation of a counter-attack, but none came – even as they set the Skimmer down next to the two remaining geth transports. It seemed every single geth had left to pursue them.

Tyr hopped out immediately drew his attention on the transport laying on its side, its landing gear sticking out to the side having failed in their purpose. "What do you make of this?"

"Likely a result of the quakes brought on by the reaper escaping its stone prison." Ralik looked to where the mountain _used_ to be. "We're in close proximity, and I imagine the quakes were far more intense here than they were for us. I didn't bother to look when we stopped by to pick up-" Ralik didn't want to finish. The wounds were still too fresh.

The answer made sense, so Tyr moved on to the last plausible ship they could use. "Alright, Arla. Let's see if we can take control of this one. It's our last shot."

Arla brought up her omni-tool and she ran the program Tosh had uploaded to her. After a few warnings and other messages, it finally connected to the geth entity they knew as the transport ship. The vessel came to life, so to speak; it's thrusters were automatically warming up, its drive core was coming online, its weapons systems were priming, and a number of visible lights on the exterior brightened. At first the team was wary of it, but Arla put their fears to rest after a large assortment of haptic interfaces appeared in front of her. "I'm in." Familiar with geth technology, she quickly navigated to the doors covering the transport bay and opened them.

"Excellent!" Ralik exclaimed. He wasted no time in climbing up to get inside, and neither did Arla or Tyr.

Conversation was practically non-existent as the door shut beneath them and Arla spread out the user interface. She endured another coughing fit, then studied the various sections and shook her head. "Ugh. I haven't had to touch this level of piloting detail since flight class." Tyr and Ralik sat down on either side of her and she sent a few of the windows to each omni-tool so they could handle them while she focused on piloting. Ralik ran a quick translation application to make Arla's quarian text a bit more readable.

After a wobbly start, the three of them managed to get the geth transport stable enough to start heading for orbit. They collectively tried to come up with some way to sabotage the relay to make it unusable once they left, but they knew so little about the workings of a relay that they were unable to formulate a feasible plan. If they had proper equipment, they could rig an asteroid to crash into the fins of the relay well after they had left, but they had almost nothing to work with. They knew leaving the relay intact was a bad idea, but there was simply nothing they could do about it. After some hesitation, they piloted the transport into orbit and activated the relay.

"Any guesses as to where this drops us?" Tyr wondered aloud. The others shook their heads.

A bolt of energy sprung from the nearest mountain range and struck the vessel, shooting it into the heart of the galaxy amidst a blue-shifted tunnel. When they dropped, Arla checked the geth's sensors to see what there was to see.

"There's a lot of noise. Hang on, let me filter this a bit." Arla manually dropped several cluttered sensor readings, leaving just enough for them to make visual sense of their surroundings.

"Is that. . . Is that Omega?" Ralik asked, both glad to see a familiar location and horrified at the implications.

"Hng. There's a lot of activity around the place right now," Arla stated.

"Stay clear," Tyr instructed. "We don't want to risk getting shot down on principle. Maybe they saw the previous geth ship come through and got spooked."

Just then, Arla and Tyr's omni-tools lit up with incoming messages. Tyr checked his so Arla could continue piloting.

"Looks like the Migrant Fleet is on the move."

"They're finally done at Raheel-Layya?" Arla asked.

"Seems so. I've got a new set of coordinates. We should head there now."

Ralik snapped his head to look at the two quarians. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Based upon what I know of your people, we're more likely to get shot down _there_ than here at Omega."

"We've got that covered," Tyr replied. "We have a verbal confirmation system that will allow us passage into the fleet, remember?. It's not unusual for quarians on their pilgrimage to return to the fleet in different ships than they left in. This is how we determine when or approaching vessel is friendly or hostile."

"Right. I. . . forgot about that tidbit."

"Do you have the coordinates, Arla?"

"Yes. Locked in and heading for the Omega-2 relay."

The geth ship headed straight for the relay and synced up to it, avoiding confrontation along the way. Only a matter of minutes after they arrived back in the galaxy, they shot off to rejoin the Migrant Fleet.

_***Later. . .***_

Once on the Neema, Arla, Tyr, and Ralik stepped into the unusually crowded courtyard to an unexpected thunderous applause. Arla was already flanked by medically trained Migrant Fleet marines who were scanning away to determine what needed to be done to contain her infection, but she largely ignored them and hobbled onward. Confused, the three walked in and saw admiral Han'Gerrel waving them over from the other side of the courtyard. They pushed through the crowd to reach the admiral, glancing at each other the entire way. They were wholly unprepared to talk about what had happened, and they certainly didn't want to talk about it in front of a crowd. Arla especially didn't want to be dealing with others right now.

"You kids have no idea how relieved I am to see that you made it back," the admiral admitted. He looked around them as if expecting others to push through the crowd.

Tyr looked up at him. "We're. . . We're glad to be home, admiral."

"I only see three of you. Where are the others?" Gerrel asked. "Where's the human kid, Kevin, Bela'Merni, and Kar'Welkas?" He paused. "Where is Siri'Kortel?"

Arla's head slowly fell forward and Tyr decided to answer this question in her stead, despite it being directed at the ranking officer. "We have. . . A _lot_ to brief you on, admiral. With all due respect, we'd rather not be in public when we do it."

Han'Gerrel gave them a silent, understanding stare. "I should say you do. Come with me to my quarters. We'll discuss your mission there."

One of the doctors placed a hand on Arla's shoulder. "Lieutenant Tavval, we'll need you to come with us. Your infection is pretty severe."

"No. I'm going with Tyr and Ralik to see the admiral."

"This is not up for debate, lieutenant. You need treatment. Now."

Arla fervently removed the marines' hands from her. "Get off of me! I'm fine!"

Tyr looked over to the ruckus. He knew her infection was bad, but he also knew that it was the only thing she had left of Kevin to hold on to. "Admiral, she has invaluable insight to the mission. We can't debrief with any sort of accuracy unless she's present."

Han'Gerrel nodded to Tyr. "Let her be, marines."

"B-but sir-!"

The admiral cut him off. "Does she have any suit damage?"

"N-no, but the-"

"Then the infection was most likely voluntary. Stand down. That's an order."

The medical marines shook their heads in disappointment, but they did as ordered and left Arla alone. The three of them did not hesitate to leave with the admiral, eager to put the hyped crowds behind them.

Once in Han'Gerrel's quarters and safe from the prying ears and eyes of the public, the surviving trio spent a number of hours debriefing the admiral on everything that had happened since they left – they went into detail about the successful assault on the geth valesh'saat and Siri'Kortel's sacrifice, the geth sphere and the experiments, the fight with the reaper, the crash of the Kellius, and their escape to the Migrant Fleet. Each time a death was mentioned, Han'Garrel slumped just a little bit more. Arla barely held it together by the time they finished; Her thoughts were still on her lost love, and the coughing fits that resulted from the infection he gave her weren't helping.

When the debrief was finished, there was a silence that pervaded the room for several minutes straight. After the admiral had a chance to absorb everything, he stood from his chair. "We'll hold a memorial service to recognize those who had given their lives for this most demanding mission. It'll be held tomorrow, so you'll have some time to make preparations. I assume you'll want to keep it private?"

"We'd appreciate that, sir." Tyr said with a slow nod.

"There does happen to be a ray of light in this dark hour, however. By returning to the Migrant Fleet, you've given the Xelvas'taersh a name again. We all feared we sent you out into the maw of certain death, and from the sound of it, we weren't far off. That said, we can consider this initiation a success, and continue the program by considering new recruits. I think we'll defer to your judgment on whether or not the selected individuals will make the cut. You've set an incredibly high bar."

Tyr looked to the salarian at his side. "What about Ralik? What will become of him?"

"What _will_ become of him, chief?" the admiral asked.

Tyr looked to Arla for an answer, as she was the ranking officer on the mission. She sighed and looked to Han'Gerrel. "If it's alright with Dolannus, I would like to allow him the chance to remain in the program. After all we've been through, it would be terribly uncouth and unjust of us to ask him to leave simply on racial grounds. For all intents and purposes, he's one of us, admiral." She looked to Ralik, who nodded back in thanks.

The admiral had his hand on the chin of his helmet as he considered her words. After less than a minute of thought, he nodded. "I don't see why not. You've made some valid points, lieutenant. I can't refute the difficult work he's done for the quarian people."

Arla forced aside a set of coughs and looked to Ralik and asked him formally. "Ralik Dolannus. Will you continue to serve at our side as part of the first Xelvas'taersh in three hundred years? Will you stay with Tyr and I as we move ahead?" Her voice was weary, but steadfast.

Ralik put a hand to his helmet-covered chin and thought out loud. "Hmm. I need to contact my brother before I make any significant decisions. Is there a terminal I can use for outbound calls?"

The admiral used his omni-tool to set Ralik's omni-tool up with the ability to make calls through the Migrant Fleet's proxy clusters. "There. You should be able to make calls from your omni-tool now."

Ralik nodded in thanks and stepped off to the side of the room to make his call. Meanwhile, Han looked to Arla. "How are you holding up, kid? You look about eight shades more depressed than the others, enough that I can see it through your suit."

"I'm sorry, admiral. I'm glad to be home, I really am. It's just that..." She trailed off as the sickening thoughts returned to her head. "I wish _he_ was here with me. . ."

Han'Gerrel looked at Tyr and the weapons chief shrugged. "The human kid, sir. The one in the quarian suit."

"Kevin? Ah, so then your infection. . ."

Arla nodded, a faint shimmer building under the glow of her eyes. "Voluntary, sir." She had to choke back an immense lump just so she wouldn't sound pathetic in the presence of the admiral.

The admiral sighed deeply, but before he could make any comment, Ralik returned. "How did the call go?" the admiral inquired instead.

"Terrible. I couldn't get through to my brother."

"Why not?" Tyr asked.

"I. . . I don't know. It's not like he was missing my calls – they were being actively rejected."

"That's. . . unusual," Arla said with a sluggish tilt of the head.

Ralik stared at the floor for around fifteen seconds before he looked up to Arla. "In light of this new information, I'll be staying with the Xelvas'taersh. It's. . . It's what Kevin would have wanted."

Arla sighed. "What Kevin would have wanted. . ." She nodded to Ralik's confirmation. "There you go, admiral. The three of us are the remains of the first Xelvas'taersh squad since the war. What would you have us do?"

Han'Gerrel chuckled. "I'd have you go get some rest, lieutenant. You're more than deserving of a rest by this point. Hop to. We'll get to the details of the ceremony when you wake. I'll also send off this report to the other admirals. I'm sure they'll want to be present as well."

"Thank you admiral," Tyr said with a formal salute.

"Xelvas'taersh, dismissed."

The remembrance ceremony the next day was brief, but emotionally charged. The only individuals other than Tyr, Ralik, and Arla that were allowed to attend were the admirals and the families of the fallen. Each had a chance to say something about the deceased, and they lit small ceremonial fires for each one. Tears were shed by nearly all in attendance – only the admirals maintained a strong stoic presence.

The nap before the ceremony did Arla good as well – her infection was showing signs of slowing its progress, little by little.

Just as they finished the ceremony, it was back to business – quarians could never really afford to be off of the the job for very long, and only Arla was granted additional rest in order to fight off her infection before it took too much of a toll. Han'Gerrel had spent a portion of the past day looking at absurd amounts of detail and he handed Tyr and Arla a list of potential candidates for the Xelvas'taersh program. Some time later, the trio stood in a line with arms crossed as they evaluated a host of quarian marines. They had another mission lined up, but they needed a ship and crew. They were they dead set on picking the best from a wide range of skills. The future of the Xelvas'taersh, now in the hands of Arla'Tavval, was looking bright. Despite their inability to forget the deaths of their squadmates, they pushed forward in their memory to move beyond their own limits.

Arla's depression never truly lifted, though she became quite adept at hiding her feelings around her comrades. She simply could not move on after Kevin's death. There were times when she would be caught falling asleep to a certain song set to a loop in her quarters – a slow song that seemed modeled after classic human rock ballads which lacked lyrics. She pressed on and worked hard to earn her new position as the new captain of the Xelvas'taersh squad mark II, and pushed forward as though it would bring him back.

Tyr refused promotions of all sorts under Arla's leadership, as he wished to stay a Gunnery Chief in rank. He still acted as a close advisor to Arla, however, and continued to be an indispensable strategist and inventory manager. He was also in charge of instructing the new Xelvas'taersh recruits in 'proper' weaponized warfare against the geth and other groups, as he was the most experienced marine on the entire squad.

Ralik continued to dabble in all things scientific, delving into the world of expert hacking in remembrance of Tosh. Though he could never quite reach Tosh's ability to program on the fly or make quick work of electronic salvage, he still managed to climb grades better than he ever did in the STG. The three of them formed the very core of the new Xelvas'taersh squad, collectively acting as the head, even though Arla maintained authority.

When they were finally awarded a new ship to use, a special monument in one of the hallways was placed which named all of the known Xelvas'taersh marines to fall in the line of duty. The first and only six names that adorned it were Siri'Kortel, Bela'Merni, Riik'Votis, Tosh'Rolush, Kar'Welkas, and lastly, Kevin Folner.

_***Elsewhere In the Galaxy***_

_**[Encrypted Data Received]**_

**Download to omni-tool now?**

| Yes

**Downloading. . . . . . . . . . Complete.**

**Decoding. . . . . . **

**Allocating cipher data. . . . . . . **

**Restructuring deciphered files. . . . . .**

**Opening index file.**

**INDEX TEXT FILE TITLE: [Your Request]**

Kevin Folner,

We are pleased you chose our information retrieval services over that of your comrade, Tarsil.

We are quite sure you'll find the additional files attached in this message worth the sum

of money you forwarded to us. Put them to good use. We hope to hear from you again.

[THE SHADOW BROKER]

**END OF FILE**

**Attached files found: Audio1, Audio2**

| Open Audio1

**Matching codecs. . . Opening. . .**

A female voice plays over Kevin's omni-tool. It is light and airy, full of life and charming to the ear. The perfect voice suited to taking calls at the front desk of a big front company.

"Yes? Of course. The office reported unusual activity a little over six weeks ago. Confimed - just after Project Evolution was decommissioned. Primary sources say the entire cell was instructed to report for processing two weeks later, but none showed. Our agents inside also went silent during this time. No, sir, they did not. There was one other thing. A boy calling from a terminal in Omega inquired about the Evolution cell three weeks ago. Kevin Folner. It appears so, they mobilized merely days after. We have leads on their projected destinations, shall I notify a hunter-seeker? . . . No? Sir, are you sure? U-Understood. Thank you, sir, and have a pleasant day."

"Hey, what was that about?" A second female voice asked.

"That was the Illusive Man requesting an update on the Evolution Cell debacle. I was sure he'd want to send in a hunter-seeker to contain liabilities, but. . ."

"But?"

"Something big must be going down that we don't know about. His priorities are changing pretty rapidly."

"I wouldn't stick your nose too far in that mess, Liz. We've got a nice spot here, I'd rather not get recruited for 'processing'."

"Yeah. . ."

**END OF FILE**

| Open Audio2

**Matching codecs. . . Opening. . .**

The sounds of moving people and rustling equipment emitted from the omni-tool. From the way the sounds played, Kevin inferred the recording device was stationary and the movement was happening all around it.

A familiar male voice with an Irish accent was the first to be heard. He sounded somewhat aged. "Hurry up with those! Cerberus is going to be on our sorry backsides real soon, and we can't dally any more!" The accent was unmistakable: It was Liam McRoilie.

A female voice joined the fray. It was Allison. "Liam, what's going on? Nobody's told me anything!"

"The project lead shut us down a few weeks ago, Allison. We were told to standby for processing, but news of an unexpected inquiry found its way to us."

"An inquiry? Of what sort?"

"No no no! Rose, forget those! We won't need them!" He paused. "One of Cerberus's front call centers got a call asking about our cell yesterday. You'll never believe who placed the call."

"It couldn't be. . ."

"Yes! It was our last living subject! It was Kevin!"

"That's great news, Liam! But. . . Why are we packing up? We were told to standby for processing."

"The Illusive Man _lied_ to us, Allison! He shut our project down because he said he had confirmation that Kevin was dead! If that was a lie, then who knows what he has planned for us now. We need to get out of here before we find out what 'processing' really means!"

"Oh God. What do we have left to move?"

"Just get the data storage from the east wing and we're out of here. We need to find Maela T'Vess – we're going to need her if we want to have a chance at saving Kevin, assuming he hasn't already had his final NCI."

The rustling quickly faded into the distance.

**END OF FILE**

Kevin smirked to himself. It sounded like someone from Cerberus was coming for him again.


End file.
